August 27, 2024 • 8 mins
Hope Gas is a Local Distribution Company (LDC) that proudly provides gas service to approximately 125,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-five West Virginia counties. We monitor and maintain more than 6900 miles of pipelines that safely deliver WV natural gas to many homes and commercial or industrial sites. We currently employ over 400 employees working right here in our beautiful Mountain State with the sole purpose of staying true to our company’s mission and vision in West Virginia.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome in. This is the CEO's You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Morgan
O'Brien of Hope Gas. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, I'm excited to be here again and I always
enjoy the conversation as background.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
What is Hope Gas, what is its history, and what
is your history with the organization.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, Hope Gas is one hundred and twenty five year
old gas utility here in West Virginia. Over those one
hundred and twenty five years, it's had many owners, so
we are sort of the last ownership group. And for us,
one of the exciting things is the previous owner was
a company called Dominion Energy and they had rebranded the
(00:45):
company as Dominion Energy West Virginia for a number of years,
and so we bought Hope we were able to bring
back the name, which you know, it brings a lot
of i'll just say, exciting opportunities for us on branding.
But we feel really proud that this is our next
chapter of Hope Gas. And so I've been at it
(01:07):
September one, it'll be two years, and we feel like
we've made a lot of progress. But we got a
lot more.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
To go, all right, I want to dig a little
deeper in the name Hope Gas. What does Hope Gas
mean to your constituents?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So I was told a story and it's stuck with
me because I'm new to West Virginia. So I'm all
years I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
But I had a bunch of contractors who do pipeline replacement,
and one of our goals is to engage with West
Virginia businesses. And I asked them if there were any
questions about the contracts and how they would procure them.
(01:42):
And one of the gentlemen stood up and said that
he grew up in West Virginia and as a child,
his mother had told him there are three good jobs
in West Virginia at the time if you don't go
to college, working in the coal mines, working for the
steel mill in Hope Gas. And he said, you know,
for years, Hope Gas went away. You know, I'll call
(02:05):
it the Dominion Energy days when people stopped seeing it.
And he said, on his way to my meeting, he
called his mom and said, I'm going to Hope Gas,
where I hopefully will get some good work from my employees.
And you always told me it's one of the places
in West Virginia you can get a good job. And
so that I'll just say that's resonated with me. That
(02:28):
you know, Hope Gas is a long trusted brand here
in West Virginia. You know, it's in it. I think
people see it as an opportunity for younger people, hopefully
for us as a as a good career path.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
September first, mark's the second anniversary of bringing Hope Gas
back to West Virginia. What have the past two years
been like for your team?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, I would say it's been exciting. You'd have to
ask the team. I think they would say it's it
was a whirlwind, you know. So we we hit the
ground running. You know, we are really proud of the
company and wanted to establish ourselves here. So we have
I'll say, in that twenty four months, we have acquired
six other small gas utilities in West Virginia, which six
(03:13):
acquisitions is a lot for anybody. We've added, you know, employees,
we've added customers, we've added pipelines, so we have really
I would say, doubled down here in West Virginia. And
at the same time, we created a corporate headquarters. So
under prior ownerships run out of state by people out
of state, we brought all those jobs to West Virginia.
(03:36):
So in that twenty four months, we created two hundred
and fifty new jobs here in West Virginia. And so
we talked about Hope guests and jobs. Jobs is a
big part of who we want to be. Talking about
pipeline contractors. We've engaged with West Virginia pipeline contractors who
have never done work for Hope before, and we've estimated
(03:57):
that our pipeline construction work with contractors is between four
to five hundred jobs a year for West Virginia. So
we're creating jobs here in West Virginia and we feel
really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now, Hope Gas is launching a campaign in West Virginia.
Can you tell me a little more about that?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, you know. So one of my main jobs is
to convince my investors to invest where I think it's prudent,
and so I've been selling West Virginia to my investors
since we started here, and they, like I said, we've
invested over a billion dollars in the state in twenty
four months. So I feel like I've got the story down.
And I was at dinner one night with some state
(04:35):
legislators and they wanted to hear about the Hope GAT story.
And they got excited listening to me talk about with
incredible optimism about the future of West Virginia. And they
started asking me why I was so optimistic, and I
started pointing to real, tangible investments that have been done
here in state of the art innovation that's going on here.
And I just started rattling off the West Virginia story
(04:59):
and they all said to me, I wish I had
recorded that. And so I left there and I said,
you know, I want to tell that story to everyone.
And so the West Virginia Is for Hope is actually
a campaign where we highlight incredible things happening in the state,
like starting with West Virginia Medicine, right, it's an amazing place.
They had two half hour segments on sixty minutes about
(05:23):
the research that goes on there, cutting edge research on
Alzheimer's and drug addiction, just really incredible stuff. We've got
new Core, which is, you know, probably one of the
greenest steel plants in the world being constructed here in
West Virginia. We have a lot of i'll call it
innovation companies that are here, and so it's really we've
(05:44):
let others tell their story and overlaying that is the
premise that West Virginia is for hope and that our
best days are ahead.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I can really hear the enthusiasm in your voice when
you're telling the story. Where does that enthusiasm come from?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You know, it's it's just comes from all the things
you see, right, So it creates you can either see
negative and feel down in the dumps er. If you
see a lot of positive, right, it helped uplifts you.
And so for my business here, like seeing all these
opportunities is just exciting and it energizes me and my team,
and so I think we're all you know, we want
(06:21):
to be not only help companies be successful here, but
we want to help help our i'll call it people
in West Virginia feel good about it, and also to
try to connect with them. We're working with schools now
for the first time about partnering with the tech programs
and creating career paths for kids who don't want to
(06:42):
go to college. So we're trying to connect with the
communities that sometimes businesses don't connect with to make them
feel a part of the success. So all that I'll
just say is exciting to me and it brings a
lot of energy.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The campaign West Virginia is for Hope. How can people
see the campaign video and learn more?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, so there is a website, West Virginia's for Hope
dot com. Or you can go to the Hope Gas
Facebook page or just watching on TV. We're going to
start running ads and you'll see it more and more,
but definitely go to the website or follow us on
Facebook and.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Your and your website is Hopegas dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, that's the company's website.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But there is a West Virginia's for Hope dot com
website as well.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So is there anything that we missed it you want
to mention?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, I just we're excited about the future here and
we're trying to I'll say, give the people and the
businesses that are here the I'll say, at the tangible
evidence of what's going on here. So when others come
here and look for those opportunities, you know, we all
here in West Virginia, you know share that. I'll call
it enthusiasm and excitement for the future.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Morgan O'Brien of Hope, Gas and a CEO you Should
Know Morgan. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
This has been the CEO you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank
you so much for listening now,
And welcome in. This is the CEO's You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Morgan
O'Brien of Hope Gas. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, I'm excited to be here again and I always
enjoy the conversation as background.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
What is Hope Gas, what is its history, and what
is your history with the organization.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, Hope Gas is one hundred and twenty five year
old gas utility here in West Virginia. Over those one
hundred and twenty five years, it's had many owners, so
we are sort of the last ownership group. And for us,
one of the exciting things is the previous owner was
a company called Dominion Energy and they had rebranded the
(00:45):
company as Dominion Energy West Virginia for a number of years,
and so we bought Hope we were able to bring
back the name, which you know, it brings a lot
of i'll just say, exciting opportunities for us on branding.
But we feel really proud that this is our next
chapter of Hope Gas. And so I've been at it
(01:07):
September one, it'll be two years, and we feel like
we've made a lot of progress. But we got a
lot more.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
To go, all right, I want to dig a little
deeper in the name Hope Gas. What does Hope Gas
mean to your constituents?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So I was told a story and it's stuck with
me because I'm new to West Virginia. So I'm all
years I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
But I had a bunch of contractors who do pipeline replacement,
and one of our goals is to engage with West
Virginia businesses. And I asked them if there were any
questions about the contracts and how they would procure them.
(01:42):
And one of the gentlemen stood up and said that
he grew up in West Virginia and as a child,
his mother had told him there are three good jobs
in West Virginia at the time if you don't go
to college, working in the coal mines, working for the
steel mill in Hope Gas. And he said, you know,
for years, Hope Gas went away. You know, I'll call
(02:05):
it the Dominion Energy days when people stopped seeing it.
And he said, on his way to my meeting, he
called his mom and said, I'm going to Hope Gas,
where I hopefully will get some good work from my employees.
And you always told me it's one of the places
in West Virginia you can get a good job. And
so that I'll just say that's resonated with me. That
(02:28):
you know, Hope Gas is a long trusted brand here
in West Virginia. You know, it's in it. I think
people see it as an opportunity for younger people, hopefully
for us as a as a good career path.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
September first, mark's the second anniversary of bringing Hope Gas
back to West Virginia. What have the past two years
been like for your team?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, I would say it's been exciting. You'd have to
ask the team. I think they would say it's it
was a whirlwind, you know. So we we hit the
ground running. You know, we are really proud of the
company and wanted to establish ourselves here. So we have
I'll say, in that twenty four months, we have acquired
six other small gas utilities in West Virginia, which six
(03:13):
acquisitions is a lot for anybody. We've added, you know, employees,
we've added customers, we've added pipelines, so we have really
I would say, doubled down here in West Virginia. And
at the same time, we created a corporate headquarters. So
under prior ownerships run out of state by people out
of state, we brought all those jobs to West Virginia.
(03:36):
So in that twenty four months, we created two hundred
and fifty new jobs here in West Virginia. And so
we talked about Hope guests and jobs. Jobs is a
big part of who we want to be. Talking about
pipeline contractors. We've engaged with West Virginia pipeline contractors who
have never done work for Hope before, and we've estimated
(03:57):
that our pipeline construction work with contractors is between four
to five hundred jobs a year for West Virginia. So
we're creating jobs here in West Virginia and we feel
really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now, Hope Gas is launching a campaign in West Virginia.
Can you tell me a little more about that?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, you know. So one of my main jobs is
to convince my investors to invest where I think it's prudent,
and so I've been selling West Virginia to my investors
since we started here, and they, like I said, we've
invested over a billion dollars in the state in twenty
four months. So I feel like I've got the story down.
And I was at dinner one night with some state
(04:35):
legislators and they wanted to hear about the Hope GAT story.
And they got excited listening to me talk about with
incredible optimism about the future of West Virginia. And they
started asking me why I was so optimistic, and I
started pointing to real, tangible investments that have been done
here in state of the art innovation that's going on here.
And I just started rattling off the West Virginia story
(04:59):
and they all said to me, I wish I had
recorded that. And so I left there and I said,
you know, I want to tell that story to everyone.
And so the West Virginia Is for Hope is actually
a campaign where we highlight incredible things happening in the state,
like starting with West Virginia Medicine, right, it's an amazing place.
They had two half hour segments on sixty minutes about
(05:23):
the research that goes on there, cutting edge research on
Alzheimer's and drug addiction, just really incredible stuff. We've got
new Core, which is, you know, probably one of the
greenest steel plants in the world being constructed here in
West Virginia. We have a lot of i'll call it
innovation companies that are here, and so it's really we've
(05:44):
let others tell their story and overlaying that is the
premise that West Virginia is for hope and that our
best days are ahead.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I can really hear the enthusiasm in your voice when
you're telling the story. Where does that enthusiasm come from?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You know, it's it's just comes from all the things
you see, right, So it creates you can either see
negative and feel down in the dumps er. If you
see a lot of positive, right, it helped uplifts you.
And so for my business here, like seeing all these
opportunities is just exciting and it energizes me and my team,
and so I think we're all you know, we want
(06:21):
to be not only help companies be successful here, but
we want to help help our i'll call it people
in West Virginia feel good about it, and also to
try to connect with them. We're working with schools now
for the first time about partnering with the tech programs
and creating career paths for kids who don't want to
(06:42):
go to college. So we're trying to connect with the
communities that sometimes businesses don't connect with to make them
feel a part of the success. So all that I'll
just say is exciting to me and it brings a
lot of energy.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The campaign West Virginia is for Hope. How can people
see the campaign video and learn more?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, so there is a website, West Virginia's for Hope
dot com. Or you can go to the Hope Gas
Facebook page or just watching on TV. We're going to
start running ads and you'll see it more and more,
but definitely go to the website or follow us on
Facebook and.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Your and your website is Hopegas dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, that's the company's website.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But there is a West Virginia's for Hope dot com
website as well.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So is there anything that we missed it you want
to mention?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, I just we're excited about the future here and
we're trying to I'll say, give the people and the
businesses that are here the I'll say, at the tangible
evidence of what's going on here. So when others come
here and look for those opportunities, you know, we all
here in West Virginia, you know share that. I'll call
it enthusiasm and excitement for the future.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Morgan O'Brien of Hope, Gas and a CEO you Should
Know Morgan. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
This has been the CEO you Should Know podcast, showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Heartwell, thank
you so much for listening now,
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