Spirited From The Start: USGC Recognizes Jim Galvin For Five Years Of Service

Jim Galvin’s enthusiasm for promoting U.S. ethanol – and his distinctive Irish accent – have provided energetic support since the start of the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) push to expand the global use of ethanol.

“My involvement with the Council coincided with the USGC Board of Directors’ decision to get involved in developing a plan to proactively promote ethanol exports across the globe through its existing networks – which to me sounded very practical given its history of success in developing trade across various countries and cultures,” Galvin, chief executive officer of Lakeview Energy, said. “It was a very exciting time to get involved in the Ethanol Advisory Team (A-team) and be part of developing a very aggressive growth plan which involved plenty of debate.”

As the prior leader of the Council’s Ethanol A-team, Galvin has traveled frequently with the Council as both he and the organization have worked to meet those goals. He specifically highlighted the Council’s work to open the Japanese market, which started with engaging and educating government agencies on successes of implementing renewable fuels policies, using the United States as the primary example. Those efforts came to fruition in April 2018, when the Japanese government revised its biofuel policy to allow imports of ETBE, a gasoline component, made from U.S. corn-based ethanol.

“Japan is a true success story and blueprint of how to open market opportunities for ethanol,” Galvin said. “With Tommy Hamamoto, the USGC director in Japan, and the D.C. team working through this process patiently and methodologically over a number of years, success was finally achieved in 2018. This, to me, showed the experience the Council has in development such market opportunities.

“It also illustrated the adaptability and enthusiasm USGC staff have in getting up-to-speed on what is a complex industry.”

The Council recognized Galvin for five years of service to the organization during its 59th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting this summer in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I am fortunate to be a part of the U.S. biofuels industry,” Galvin said. “Being a foreigner here in the United States does give me an appreciation for the importance of understanding a country’s culture, its people and its politics in developing an export market – the Council does a great job doing that.”