Taft Yeatts, director of safety for Davenport Energy Inc. in Chatham, has been appointed president of the Virginia Propane Gas Association.
The appointment, which is for one year, took place at the association’s annual meeting in Virginia Beach in July.
In past years, Yeatts has served as president-elect, treasurer, secretary, director and chairman of the education and safety committee for the Virginia Propane Gas Association.
He received the association’s safety award in 2014 and 2017 for contributions to propane safety in Virginia.
The association promotes the safe and economical use of propane, propane appliances and the use of propane as a motor fuel.
Yeatts entered the propane industry in 1994 and has been a member of the Virginia Propane Gas Association for nearly 25 years.
A graduate of Gretna High School and Averett University, he also is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a fuel specialist.
Yeatts and his wife, Karen, have four children and three grandchildren.
A regional petroleum company, Davenport Energy serves more than 35,000 customers from offices in Chatham, Gretna, Danville, South Boston, Rocky Mount, Martinsville, Bedford, Roanoke, Covington and Siler City and Greensboro, North Carolina.
James Gordon, the owner of Springfield Distillery, comes by his interest in whiskey naturally. “I grew up with memories of my father moonshining,” says Gordon, who opened his Halifax County distillery in August 2016. “My father is one of the first two private individuals in South Africa to get his license for distilling liquor. I get to tap into 25 years of distillery experience.”
