Sustaining Opportunities

by Ann Bailey (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The ethanol industry provides young people with wealth of job opportunities. -- Nineteen-year-old Marcus Niehaus sees a future in the ethanol industry. The Southeastern Illinois College student said he wants to make a difference in the world and believes working in the biofuels business is a way he can do that.

“I am an outdoors person. I love the environment and want to see it preserved and not destroyed,” Niehaus says. Besides being environmentally friendly, the alternative energy industry is made up of the kind of people Niehaus would like to have as co-workers, he says. “They seem to always be in a good mood and are well taken care of by the company.” Meanwhile, working in an ethanol plant would offer him the opportunity to do the kind of hands-on labor he enjoys. “I like being able to get a feel of what I am working on to have a better understanding of how it works,” Niehaus says.

Niehaus plans to finish his associate degree in biofuels at Southeast Illinois College in Harrisburg in Spring 2018 and then hopes to land a job as an ethanol plant technician. However, he is willing to accept another position if a technician job is not available. “I would take any job they would offer to get my foot in the door and acquire some experience watching others.”

Flexibility, Hard Work
Willingness to work at a variety of ethanol plant jobs and in various positions were key to the success of Ryan Carter, the 35-year-old general manager of Tharaldson Ethanol in Casselton, North Dakota. Carter’s work took him to plants across the United States and to Canada before Casselton, where he’s been the past six years.

All along the way, Carter has been mentored and supported by ethanol industry colleagues, he says. “If one plant needs help, we’re there to answer a question. It’s kind of a big family that keeps moving forward.” Besides the camaraderie in the industry, Carter also enjoys working for an industry he can feel pride in, he says. “We’re doing good for the environment, we do a lot for the farmer, for the communities that each plant is located in. [Ethanol] is an interesting, American-made product. We’re not depending on foreign oil or foreign companies to do what we do.”

At Adkins Energy LLC in Rockford, Illinois, biofuels operations manager Tim Schneiderman enjoys the challenges of continuously seeking to improve plant efficiency. Schneiderman, 38, does the certificate of analysis for each of the ethanol batches produced during his shift. He also operates the biodiesel plant and does the required testing. Schneiderman, who has worked in the industry for nearly 13 years, was employed previously at a nursing home and a food manufacturing and packaging plant. After he accepted the position at Adkins, he took biofuels classes at Southeastern Illinois College to learn more about the industry.

Communication Challenge
Renee Loesche is very aware of the ethanol industry’s workforce challenge as director of curriculum and training in the Building Illinois’ Bio-economy program at Southeastern Illinois College. She believes getting the word out about the opportunities in the biofuels industry will help it attract the employees it needs to fill the positions that are open now and will open as the industry workforce ages.

Jill Brun, a 2013 graduate of Southeast Community College in Milford, Nebraska, majored in the energy generation program, focusing on biofuels energy. Brun, a lab manager at Flint Hills Resources ethanol plant in Fairmont, Nebraska, wanted to work in the ethanol industry because she believes that traditional energy sources can have a detrimental impact on the environment and that there’s an “urgent and obvious need for alternative forms of fuel and energy.”

Wide Variety
Besides offering job opportunities for students who want to do hands-on work at ethanol plants, the renewable fuels industry also has openings for men and women who want to work on the business side of the company. Ellie Antova, global business manager for ICM, is responsible for furthering the company’s technology offerings around the world. A former aerospace industry business professional, Antova, now 32, already had a bachelor’s degree in marketing and master’s degrees in business administration and international economics when she accepted a position five years ago as business analysis manager at ICM. Shortly after Antova was hired, she enrolled in the biofuels program at Southeastern Illinois College and received a certificate in Biofuels Technology and Sustainability. “This program provided an academic foundation to the ethanol industry I was trying to navigate through,” Antova says. Initially, her job at ICM was developing an international business intelligence support system and managing ICM international trade compliance. It has evolved into a strategic planning and trade development role, she says. READ MORE