The world lost a talented creator last year and this year the American Coalition for Ethanol honored Greg Veerman with its Grassroots Award for his gifts to the ethanol industry.

“He really understood our industry in a way that others did not,” said ACE CEO Brian Jennings in presenting the award to Veerman’s wife Jane. “One of the many lessons Greg taught me is that telling your story isn’t good enough. You’re not going to make a compelling case. You have to show and tell your story and everything we did the last 15 years in terms of PR and websites and advertising and in any sort of public facing collateral had Greg Veerman’s fingerprints on it.”

Veerman was the creative force behind the ACE “Power by People” brand and he shared his insights as a speaker at ACE events, attended a few fly-ins, and was actively working on a new campaign to highlight ACE’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) work.

“He was a cool guy and he loved people. I mean, that was one of the things that he hammered into us on this power by people thing,” said ACE’s Ron Lamberty. “His job was to come and meet you, hear what you do, learn who you are and then tell you how cool you are and then tell the rest of the world how cool you are.”

In addition to his wife, Jane, Greg is survived by four children – Gus, Jude, Oliver and Phoebe. Both Oliver and Phoebe were able to join their mother at the ACE conference last month to accept the award for their father.

2025 ACE conference - Grassroots Award (8:17)

2025 ACE Conference photo album