Colville: Good people and good leadership make for great results.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: 2017 Top 49ers

Colville has comfortably made the Alaska Business Top 49ers list for more than ten years. In 2008 the company ranked number 38, reporting gross revenue of $50 million; 2016 was Colville's best in terms of rank and revenue, reporting nearly $133 million and ranking number 25 on the list. Throughout the years Colville's revenue has shown a definitive upward trend as the fuel transportation, storage, and distribution company works diligently on Alaska's North Slope.

What is new at Colville is President and CEO Dave Pfeifer, who joined the company earlier this year. Pfeifer's background is as an executive in healthcare and Alaska Native Corporations, coupled with several graduate degrees "none of which is the oil industry," he laughs. "I met Mark Helmericks, Colville's owner, and we just hit it off. He appreciated the diversity of my experience and my formal education. I said, 'I don't know anything about your business,' and he said, 'I'll teach you.' I think I'm the beneficiary of this arrangement," Pfeifer explains.

While Pfeifer is new to the industry, he certainly isn't new to leadership and organization, skills he's already making good use of at Colville. "I'm utilizing the same tools and approach I've always used," he says. In September, he was putting the finishing touches on an administrative team for the company, which he says is "about creating the dynamics of the team and putting the right people in the right seat with a shared vision." Colville already has the technical expertise the company needs to provide quality service to its clients, so that hasn't been his focus. "It's really about building the team at the administrative level to support the front-line employees and provide the resources they need to exceed our customers' needs." His "marching orders" from Helmericks, as he puts it, are that "[Helmericks] would rather have a well operated company than a very large company. We're already a relatively large company, but he said, 'Focus on operational excellence and go where the customer needs us and the rest of it will come naturally,' which it absolutely will. You can't build on something that has wobbly legs."

Vertically Integrated

Pfeifer explains that Colville's primary business is fuel transportation, fuel storage, and fuel distribution. But Colville has several other service lines including aviation, industrial supply, waste management, towing, and other transportation. Many of the company's recent activities have added...