Meet Our Team: Pete Aardema

2023 marks 10 years of service with Crystal Flash for Pete Aardema, CF’s Senior Operations Manager. Pete’s tenure with CF began in October of 2013 as the Bulk Plant Manager of our Grand Rapids location. Just two months later, Michigan was thrust into a “polar vortex” and one of the harshest winters in recent memory.

“Having never worked in the propane industry, I thought that now-historic season was just a normal winter and assumed it was always that crazy-busy. It wasn’t until a 20+ year veteran of the industry told me that he’d never seen a winter like it in all his time in propane that I found out it wasn’t the norm,” Pete recalled. Over the years, Pete’s position expanded to managing the day-to-day operations of CF’s Newaygo, Muskegon, Lowell, and Greenville locations as well.

In 2020, he was promoted to Senior Operations Manager. In this expanded role, Pete now supports the local area managers at all our bulk plant locations across Michigan to ensure customers are serviced professionally and safely. “My favorite part of working in operations has always been identifying and working to solve problems. It seems like each day something new presents itself. I also really enjoy directing and assisting some of our newer front-line managers with both daily and long-term challenges and strategies,” Pete shared.

Before coming to Crystal Flash, Pete spent many years as an operations manager in the waste industry. Growing up in his family’s trash business, he has spent virtually his entire life around trucks. “I started tagging along with my dad to work and rode in my first garbage truck around age two,” Pete reminisced. Even now, he still enjoys getting out and driving a truck from time to time.

Pete is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a degree in Operations Management. He resides in Ada with his wife, their 7-year-old daughter, and 4-year-old son. He enjoys spending time boating on Lake Michigan during the summer months and is involved as a volunteer at both his church and his children’s school. A native of the Chicago area, he is an avid Chicago Bears and White Sox fan.

Connect with Pete at 616-447-3519 or petera@crystalflash.com if you believe that he, or any of the employee-owners of Crystal Flash, could be of service.

Pete Aardema