MFA Oil Board Names Jon Ihler as Chief Executive Officer
August 2, 2019
MFA Oil Company today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jon Ihler as president and chief executive officer effective July 31, 2019. Ihler, who had been serving as interim CEO since April 25, 2019, is the fifth CEO in the cooperative’s 90-year history.
“Jon Ihler is a proven and experienced leader, and the right person to lead our company forward as we enter our next chapter,” says Marion Kertz, chairman of the MFA Oil Company Board of Directors. “Jon’s unwavering commitment to our cooperative, extensive knowledge of our business and energizing leadership approach will serve us well.”
“I am honored and humbled to be chosen to lead MFA Oil Company and I appreciate the confidence the Board of Directors has placed in me,” says Ihler. “There is tremendous opportunity ahead for our company and I look forward to continuing to work with our board, our leadership team, and our more than 1,900 employees as we move the company forward.”
Ihler joined MFA Oil in 2001 working in Big O Tires and Jiffy Lube management before moving to Colorado where he owned and operated his own franchised automotive business. He returned to MFA Oil in 2006, serving as business development manager and director of sales and marketing. In 2014, Ihler was promoted to vice president of sales and marketing, overseeing sales, marketing, and distribution as well as APM LLC, the dealer/wholesale company MFA Oil acquired in 2013.
Ihler holds a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. He is a Columbia native and a long-time Missouri resident.
MFA Oil Company, formed in 1929, is a farmer-owned cooperative with more than 40,000 members. MFA Oil is the seventh largest propane retailer in the United States. The company supplies fuels, lubricants and propane to customers in Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Through a subsidiary, MFA Oil operates Break Time convenience stores in Missouri and Arkansas, Jiffy Lube franchises in central Missouri and Big O Tires franchises in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.