Kris Patrick’s Story: From Engineering Co-Op to Ergon CEO

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  • UPDATE: Kris Patrick was named Ergon President and CEO on October 1, 2022. “Kris’ desire to honor Ergon’s history while focusing on innovation and expanding opportunities will take this global organization to even greater heights,” commented Board Chair Tom Amonett. Click HERE for the full press release.Read about Kris’ transition from Chemical Engineering Co-Op to Executive Management below.

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    A self-described country boy and family man, Kris Patrick grew up on a small farm near Pelahatchie, Mississippi. His parents and most of his extended family were educators, and his sister decided to stick to the family tradition of teaching. Kris, however, was a bit of a black sheep. “I was not one of these kids that knew exactly what they wanted to do growing up, but I had an affinity for math and chemistry,” he explained. “It’s probably genetic since my mother taught sciences and math.”

    Mentors Help Lead the Way

    Kris had a chemistry teacher — one of many mentors who invested in him along the way — who took an interest in his future. “He kept asking what I wanted to do in life, and I kept answering ‘I don’t know,’ until he finally said, ‘I think you’d make a really good chemical engineer.’ That was all the motivation I needed, and I enrolled in chemical engineering at Mississippi State University (MSU) after graduating from Brandon High School in 1995.”

    While still at MSU, Kris had a chance meeting with Jimmy Rasco, who recently retired as Ergon’s Vice President of Global Base Oil Technology. Jimmy told Kris Ergon Refining was considering a co-op program for chemical engineers and asked if he would be interested. The rest is history.

    Ergon’s First Chemical Engineering Co-Op

    Being the company’s first Chemical Engineering Co-Op, Kris has always been proud of the investment Ergon makes in its employees. The program has grown over the years, with 12 to 15 Co-Ops currently rotating through three cycles at any given time.

    Growing Up at Ergon Refining

    Kris graduated one Friday in May of 2000 and was at work the following Monday morning. His first role at Ergon was Process Engineer, and he worked his way through all the different processing units. “This role does everything from optimizing and finding ways to make products better and more efficiently, all the way to troubleshooting in the plant,” he explained. “Figuring out exactly what wasn’t working and how to fix it occupied a lot of our days.”

    Again, Kris happened to be in the right place at the right time. “I was fortunate to be working in Vicksburg just as the fundamentals of the business were changing. We were changing crudes, and the whole business model was changing,” he said. “A lot of the design work and strategic thought centered around how to get from where we were to a better scenario.”

    He was also in Vicksburg when one of the most significant investments in Ergon’s history was made, as the startup of Ergon Refining’s second hydroprocessing unit, propane deasphalting unit, and a third hydrogen gas plant increased the refinery’s capacity and made ERI the world’s leading naphthenic producer in 2009.

    Kris served with Chad Stewart, Drafting and Design Supervisor, to manage implementation of these projects. “It was a really interesting experience getting to see a capital project implemented from the execution side, and I gained some valuable exposure,” he said. “This experience helped me to be more well-rounded and a better employee. It is just another example of how Ergon has always invested in employees. I got to grow up in Ergon in that environment, listening and learning and soaking up knowledge,” he explained. “There was no better place I could have been at that point in my career. I got to work with some terrific people, and the Vicksburg plant still feels like home when I’m there.”

    That same year, Kris was pulled from capital projects and reengaged with process engineering to help solve a corrosion issue in the vacuum tower in the crude unit. “I have a lot of gray hair to this day because of that stressful time,” he said. “Catalyst that was supposed to last four years was lasting about one month, and we were looking at millions of dollars in expense and lots of downtime. Fortunately, we were able to solve that issue.”

    On to the Corporate Offices

    In January of 2010, Kris started working with Don Davis, former President of Ergon Refining & Marketing, and Craig Busbea, Ergon’s Vice President – Business Development, on economic payout projects and short- to mid-term planning. In 2012, he moved into the role of Planning & Economics Manager and started getting some exposure to the people and processes at the Ergon – West Virginia refinery. He was named Vice President of Refinery Planning & Economics in 2014 and then held various Senior Vice President positions related to Economics, Refining, and Planning & Supply, until he was named President of the company’s refineries — Ergon Refining and Ergon – West Virginia — in January of 2018.

    Putting the Puzzle Together

    When Kris was named to the Operating Committee in 2014, he began to learn more about all the different Ergon companies and how they work together. “That’s when I really developed an appreciation for the profound wisdom Mr. Lampton had when he built these companies,” he explained. “It’s pretty easy now to sit back and see how they work together, but it is amazing how he put the different pieces together. You can see his fingerprint on the intelligent design of all of the Ergon companies.”

    One of Mr. Lampton’s greatest lessons for Kris came just after he completed his MBA with a specialty in project management and the Leading Global Business program at Harvard Business School. “I had all these great academic ideas, and we were developing some profitability targets and goals when Mr. Lampton walked in my office,” Kris said. “When I explained what we were doing, he asked me if these plans were around how much money we were going to make. After some discussion, Mr. Lampton said, ‘Let me tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to work hard, we’re going to do things with the customer in mind, and if we do all that stuff right, we will make money in the end.’”

    When Kris moved into the role of Senior Vice President – Refining, Planning & Supply in 2016, he started working closely with Jimmy Langdon. Kris admired Jimmy’s ability to guide employees in subtle ways without being too critical or intimidating, pointing out areas for improvement without the need to tear someone down. “I will be forever grateful for that period from 2016 until Jimmy’s untimely passing and the opportunity to get to know him like I did. His loss was tragic for the company and tragic for so many people here personally.

    “I’ve been so blessed throughout my career,” Kris continued, “but one of the greatest blessings has been working with people like Mr. Lampton, Jimmy, Don, Ed Hudgins, Ken Dillard, Ricky Allen, Bill Jones, Lance Puckett and Craig Busbea. This group was willing to invest in somebody who was young, and they made a concerted effort to help me develop. I’m so grateful for the investment they made in me, and I have no doubt the impact that they made on me personally and professionally is immeasurable. One of my hopes is that I can make that sort of investment in the people I work with today.”

    Transitioning to COO

    The Ergon family was fortunate to be able to rely on Kris Patrick through a time of transition — following the unexpected loss of the company’s Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Langdon in 2018 — to help maintain stability and continuity in our business operations.

    “His experience with Ergon, coupled with his strong management and leadership skills, made Kris the obvious choice to fill the role of Chief Operating Officer,” said Emmitte Haddox, Ergon’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our Board had no doubt that Kris would honor Jimmy’s legacy and build upon Ergon’s strong foundation, leading to continued growth and future success.”

    Kris expressed his appreciation to Mr. Haddox and the Lampton family, as well as all the employees who have accepted him in his new role as COO since August of 2018. “I can’t say enough about how the companies have helped me understand each business — particularly Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions,” he explained. “The company has had very intelligent growth over the years, and I am impressed with the way they think about their customers and the service they are providing.”

    His immediate plans call for building on Ergon’s strong foundation. Kris says one of the challenges with growth, regardless of business strategy, is reaching a complexity and scale where systems and processes are needed to support that growth. “Across Ergon, not just relative to Ergon A&E, we will be working to maximize the return on our current assets, leveraging the fantastic acquisitions that we’ve made,” he added.

    “We’ve got some really strong business segments, a great management team and outstanding business strategy,” Kris commented. “They have been operating somewhat autonomously. I think it’s a good time for us to look at what we do together and evaluate that space in between what we do where we have natural growth opportunities. It means working together again, much like we did during the early years when Mr. Lampton was building the Ergon companies.”

The Ergon + MSU Connection

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For Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions (EAE), serving as a resource goes far beyond meeting the needs of customers. We strive to be leaders in the development of improved products and technology, and the relationships we have cultivated with university engineering departments play an important role in industry advances. As we provide support needed to educate students in fundamental ways, we are also supporting research that benefits the entire industry.

Ergon’s longest relationship has been with Mississippi State University (MSU). It began informally in 2006, when Isaac L. Howard, Ph.D., P.E., F. ASCE, MSU’s Interim Director, Materials and Construction Industries Endowed Chair and Professor, crossed paths with Ergon’s Vice President of Paragon Technical Services, Gaylon Baumgardner, Ph.D. “We were introduced at a Mississippi Asphalt Pavement Association meeting and just started expressing common interests, and from there we started working on projects together,” Dr. Howard said. “Early work included polymer field trial data, more sustainable asphalt mixes and recycling. As the relationship started to expand, we began to partner more strategically on all sorts of work.”

Following Hurricane Katrina, MSU’s Construction Materials Research Center, APAC, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Ergon joined forces to conduct a full-scale demonstration for the Department of Homeland Security. The purpose was to prove that the asphalt industry could aid in expediting the rebuilding process after natural disasters by using warm mix technologies in ways they had not been used in the past — for recovery — and that the use of additives would allow asphalt to be hauled extremely long distances while still being suitable for temporary applications. A parking lot was paved with 12 strips of asphalt with different combinations of materials, haul times and compaction levels.

“As we neared completion of this paving demonstration, we realized the value of the site as a tool to study longer-term aging,” Dr. Howard said. “We just started collecting measurements. Literally thousands of them. There are dozens and dozens of different combinations out there, just aging in the field. We have been able to evaluate the effect of construction practices, of additives, and of using several types of recycled materials. All of these variations have been, and continue to be, evaluated in a very controlled, systematic way. We aren’t relying on anything but the truth, which is outdoor aging, when it comes to evaluating how these materials change properties over time. Nothing simulates a Mississippi climate like the Mississippi climate!”

Since 2011, there have been multiple funded studies on how mixtures at the parking lot are aging. Results have been presented and published at conferences and in multiple journals and magazines. Overall, the collaborative efforts with MSU-CMRC and Ergon have led to opportunities for several dozen students, dozens of publications/presentations, and multiple national recognitions.

“We look for opportunities to help mentor those students, to make them champions of our products,” Dr. Baumgardner explained. “We are already seeing students working as university professors. One is actually working for the competition, but that’s ok because we prefer ‘good’ competition. Others are working for the Corps of Engineers, some in really responsible positions. You feel good seeing people you’ve helped along the way.”

Ergon’s reputation in the industry is a major factor in a university’s decision to partner with the company. According to Dr. Howard, Dr. Baumgardner is a big part of Ergon’s reputation. “Gaylon is known for being very honest about his findings, very thorough and competent. If he tells someone they should modify their asphalt a certain way, they are going to believe him because of his track record. People tend to listen to people’s accomplishments more than the people themselves, and in Gaylon’s case, he is an extremely well known and respected asphalt person on an international level.”

Dr. Howard added that he can always rely on Dr. Baumgardner to be there when needed. “Gaylon’s level of involvement is directly proportional to the complexity of the problem,” he said. “The harder the job gets, the more involved Gaylon gets.”

Bill Lampton, Ergon Director, and Baxter Burns, EAE President, are important resources for Dr. Howard and MSU-CMRC. “Bill keeps a fairly close eye on the overall program and helps as needed to keep things running smoothly,” Dr. Howard commented. “Baxter helps us evaluate how we are performing and what we need to be planning down the road to keep the program strong, i.e., the big picture. His interests lie in the quality of the students, the value of the research, and in helping us to continue moving forward.”

Other EAE team members play important roles. Larry Tomkins, EAE Vice President – South Region, often lectures classes at MSU. Larry, Amy Walker, EAE Area Sales Manager, and Stan Williams, EAE Technical Marketing Manager, work with Dr. Howard on various industry-related issues, oftentimes leading to topics for presentations he gives to professional societies. Mark Ishee, EAE Vice President – Pavement Preservation, works with Dr. Howard frequently, as do almost all of the Paragon staff, including Scott Watson, Senior Vice President; Mike Hemsley, Technical Director/Field Services and Mix Design; Codrin Daranga, Technical Director/Asphalt Binders, Emulsions & Technical Coatings; and Trey Jordan, Mix Design Engineer. These relationships elevate the reputation of CMRC and the quality of the asphalt industry as a whole.

Show Me the … Time

In closing, Dr. Howard explained that MSU’s relationship with Ergon is about more than money. “Money is good, but Ergon is also investing the thing that is often the hardest to get from people, and that is time. Without Ergon supporting us the way they do, what I do here would not be possible.

“Through this partnership, a regional future workforce of students has been taught about asphalt — many of whom are still in Mississippi, working in the roadway construction industry,” Dr. Howard commented. “We’re trying to raise the value of the whole industry. We are developing tools that are good for everybody and developing a workforce that’s good for everybody.”