Source: Suburban Natural Gas Company
Suburban Natural Gas Company announced today that Andrew J. Sonderman, formerly General Counsel for Columbia Gas System’s natural gas distribution companies and currently a Director with the Columbus law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter, will assume Suburban’s presidency on March 1 of this year replacing David L. Pemberton, Jr. who served as Suburban’s Chief Operating Officer from December, 2000 until January, 2015. David L. Pemberton, Sr. will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. The Pemberton family acquired control of Suburban in 2000.
Sonderman brings with him a wealth of knowledge of the public utilities industry and, particularly, the regulated natural gas business in which he has served for over thirty years representing utility companies before numerous state and federal agencies as well as managing legal and technical staffs. While residing in Gahanna with his wife, Micheal, he has served on various charitable and community boards and committees, including Catholic Social Services and The Catholic Foundation. He is a graduate of Kent State University and The Ohio State College of Law.
“Suburban is a very old company with a very new face,” said Sonderman. Established in the last remaining Ohio oil boom town of Cygnet in 1882, for most of its long history, Suburban served rural areas and small communities in northwest Ohio. In 1989, it ventured into southern Delaware County and began distributing natural gas from a converted oil pipeline to a handful of farmers and small businesses. During the next twenty-five years, its operations in central Ohio expanded to nealy 12,000 customers, including such prestigious accounts as Polaris Centers of Commerce, Chase Data Center, and Kroger’s Distribution Center in Delaware.
“I’m honored by the opportunity to continue this impressive pattern of growth,” Sonderman said.
Pemberton, Sr. expressed confidence in the family’s choice. “Andy is the first non-family member to hold the office of President since the company’s founding nearly 135 years ago. Andy wasn’t our first choice. He was our only choice. We feel very fortunate to have attracted a man of his experience, expertise, and character to our family enterprise.”
Suburban has thirty-four employees and maintains offices in Cygnet and Lewis Center, Ohio.