National Women’s History Month: Shari Pembroke

Shari Pembroke has been a Customer Service Center Manager for our Bennington, VT location for the past 18 years out of her 37-year career at Suburban Propane. Prior to that she was a Plant Manager for Agway Energy Services for both Bennington, VT as well as Western, NY locations.

She has stayed with Suburban Propane for the last 37 years because, “I have always felt valued and respected. I have been offered exciting and challenging work and have worked with supportive and dedicated employees and management throughout my career.”

The propane industry has changed a lot since she first started. According to Shari, “it wasn’t very common to see a woman manager and many in our industry had lower expectations and beliefs about a woman’s abilities. The common perception of a woman being inferior in the industry inspired me to be the most competent professional manager I could be. I am proud to be one of the many women managers that Suburban Propane employs. Today 37 years later women are accepted in these rolls and now their contributions are expected to be on par with men. I have two women drivers and they are fantastic – again proving it’s the person not the gender.”  She recommends working for Suburban Propane because aside from the reasons previously mentioned, “they offer career growth, learning and development opportunities, as well as having a long track record of financial stability and growth.”

In these uncertain times, Shari understands the importance of caring for her customers and “made sure our customers have stayed warm and comfortable. With many customers staying home, it’s important they can count on us to keep them comfortable.”

Shari enjoys giving back to her community, volunteering in her spare time for the Rotary, the local Chamber of Commerce and for the United Counseling Services serving as a Board Member. “Being part of the community has always been important to me,” she said.