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Chester J. Bullard Jr. began his career in the terminals industry back in 1998 at Valero Refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. A few years later while Bullard was still with the company in 2001, Valero purchased Diamond Shamrock, which meant the acquisition of all associated logistics.

“Valero created a logistics group called Valero L.P., and I was fortunate enough to be able to move from the refinery side to the logistics group,” Bullard recalled. “In 2004, Valero L.P. was renamed to NuStar Energy. I was able to work in various roles at NuStar, eventually becoming General Manager over the Central West North Region.”

During that time, Bullard was able to gain valuable experience in both the pipeline and terminal business. Today, as Vice President of Operations and EH&S for Howard Energy Partners, Bullard says his favorite part of the job is his colleagues.

“Getting to work alongside so many talented individuals that make up a great team is what keeps me excited about our industry,” he said.

Adam Miller, Area Operations Manager, Texas Refined Products System for Flint Hills Resources, got his start in the terminal industry after spending four years in the military after college. Miller found a job at a petrochemical company as a reliability engineer—a role that eventually led him to pursue a project manager position within Flint Hills Resources (known at the time as Koch Pipeline).

“I transitioned from the project manager role to various leadership roles, such as maintenance manager, operations supervisor and operations manager,” Miller said. “These leadership roles gave me my first experiences with the terminal industry. The best part of my job is helping my team enhance their capabilities and reach their full potential. It brings me a lot of fulfillment to see them succeed.”

Terminal employees saw some increases in compensation and improvements in benefits over last year as terminal operators are paying closer attention to workforce development in the face of competitive job markets. That was one conclusion of the Terminal Employees Compensation and Benefits Report conducted by Industry Insights, Inc. and released today by the International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA).