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Revenue growth FY 2020 to 2022: 178%
2022 revenue: $2.16 billion
Lesson learned: During the worst of the pandemic, when demand for oil was low and so many goods and services were at a standstill, CountryMark decided to look at where it could invest some money and position itself better for when the world got back to normal. CEO and President Matt Smorch said the company canceled a planned $50 million project and ended up spending $5 million on improvements that increased production by 21%.
What they do: CountryMark is a farmer-owned cooperative that produces and refines oil. Smorch, who’s been with the company for 22 years and has been president and CEO since 2020, said CountryMark processes 35,000 barrels a day of capacity. (The average refinery in the country produces 150,000 barrels a day.) Its mission is to supply members with the fuels and lubricants they need for their business. CountryMark supplies 70% to 75% of the fuel used for agriculture in the state of Indiana and about half of the fuel needs for the school systems in the state, he said. It also has 125 branded retail sites, primarily outside Marion County.
History: Founded in 1919, CountyMark is the for-profit side of Indiana Farm Bureau—and used to be called Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative. In 1939, crude oil was found in southern Indiana and the cooperative decided to build a refinery in Mount Vernon. The refinery has been in operation since 1940, gathering local crude in the Illinois basin—southern Illinois, southern Indiana and western Kentucky—bringing it to the refinery and processing it to make gasoline, diesel, asphalt and propane. CountryMark also operates a pipeline that ships gas and diesel fuel from Mount Vernon to Westfield and then to Peru.
Eyeing the future: Smorch said that despite the world’s push toward clean, renewable energy, the U.S. is going need diesel fuel for a long time. CountryMark is looking at capacity improvements and investments in renewable fuels—primarily renewable diesel fuels, he said. “It comes down to the timing of those investments so we’re still supplying fuel to our members and are good stewards of the resources that they have us manage.”•
Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.
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