As 2015 finished, the three Managing Partners at Burton Energy Group reflected on the past year and what they are looking forward to in the upcoming year. See the recent interview below.
Amanda P (AP): Looking back on 2015, what accomplishment are you most proud of?
Brent B: I am proud of our team for continuing to raise the bar with client deliverables. Some clients were challenged with budget constraints for energy capital projects, and we sought creative ways to still be impactful and add value. For example, water rates continue to escalate so we invested in a water management specialist to drive our client water conservation projects. Our team expanded our waste management and recycling practice to help our largest client, Staples, improve their program. And the Burton Energy Strategy Platform (Burton ESP ™) continued to evolve thanks to client feedback and our internal software development team, and serves as an integral portal for all of our full services clients.
We were even more involved in community projects. For the 15th straight year we teamed with other Atlanta area businesses to prepare sandwiches and deliver them to a number of homeless shelters before Christmas. Several of our employees cooked and served dinner at a local Ronald McDonald House, a practice we will expand upon this year. Four Burton colleagues were involved in local school STEM programs, volunteering their services and addressing questions about energy and the environment. And we made our largest financial contributions ever in a single year to a number of charitable causes that Burton and our clients support.
As a company we experienced our fourth consecutive double digit growth in revenue and margin. Those are not easy numbers to replicate. We currently provide services to clients at over 67 thousand sites, with more than 900 million square feet and an annual energy spend of $2.25 billion. It is a testament to the Burton leadership team and all of our colleagues to reach these milestone, and they are to be commended.
AP: Sounds like 2015 was a very successful year! With all that success, what are you thankful for?
George P: We are thankful for our clients, and for the opportunity they have afforded us to be part of their energy and water conservation and sustainability efforts. It is our privilege to work with many of the very best firms that work in the hospitality, retail, restaurant, financial services, commercial real estate, educational and healthcare markets. Our clients push us to deliver additional savings, and those efforts allow us to expand new services and further invest in delivering current services. Look for signs of that investment in 2016 with the Burton ESP™ and in waste management and water conservation services. We are thankful for our employees and for the hard work and sacrifices they make to meet our client expectations. Any company is defined by the integrity and character of its employees, and by that measure we are truly fortunate.
AP: What is Burton Energy Group looking forward to in the year 2016?
Mark B: With a great foundation and team in place, we look forward to 2016 as a year to take the next step in helping our clients to set and achieve goals they thought might be just beyond their reach a few years ago. Every client we serve and problem we solve helps improve our ability to tackle the next problem. Leveraging this learning along with continued reinvestment in our people and tools, we have two main goals we want to bring to every client we serve:
- Trusted Execution: Day to day support of current programs for our clients builds trust and the foundation for success. We will continue to strive to deliver on our commitments and strategically introduce automation through Burton ESP™ as well as our underlying analytics and business processes.
- Innovation to Bring Unexpected Value: With a solid foundation in place for day to day execution, we hope to always push ourselves and our clients to bring new unexpected opportunities for energy and water savings to their attention, build the business case, and walk it all the way to completion.
At the end of the day, our job is to take the complex world of energy/water rates, programs, regulations, facilities, utilities, suppliers, and markets and to understand our clients well enough to make it easy for them to make decisions and execute on their goals, bringing meaningful bottom line results. We look forward to working together to move closer to this reality in 2016.
To learn more about Burton Energy Group, please visit our corporate website.