Pump It UP

Creating Complete Solutions for Service Stations Fuels Success for the Seneca Companies.

Legendary astronaut Wally Schirra once said, “I’ve always thought space station is a great name. It should be like a gas station where we go for service and supplies before heading further out.” For the time being, the closest most of us will get to a space station is a fueling station — and when we do, there’s a good chance The Seneca Companies have had a hand in building it.

For over 40 years, the Des Moines, Iowa, firm has grown on a highly desirable trajectory in the fuel systems construction niche, integrating a host of capabilities to become a unique provider of what they rightly describe as “the complete solution.”

From design, building, and servicing gas stations to offering a suite of environmental services, waste solutions, remediation and process controls, and the installation of automotive and commercial equipment, Seneca makes good on that brand promise. BOSS recently chatted with company president and COO James “JC” Risewick, son of company founder and CEO Chris Risewick, to get an up-close look at how the innovative group came to be, and how it meets the critical needs of its customers.

“We started in 1972 literally selling gas nozzles, filters, hoses, and things out of the trunk of a car,” Risewick began. The bulk of the business is the provision of construction and distribution in the filling station sector. “We will build a gas station, primarily focusing on the fuel side: tanks, piping, gas pumps on the island, lighting systems within the store. That’s really where we grew up.”

Today, Seneca employs 365 people from Colorado to Tennessee, and everywhere in between.