Pester Marketing Co., operator of 1st Stop and FarmCrest stores in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, has elected Richard Spresser president and chief operating officer.

Spresser, a Kansas native, graduated from Fort Hays State University and has spent 27 years in the petroleum and convenience store industry. He began his career with Stop and Shop and then as the zone vice president with Coastal Mart before joining Pester Marketing Co. 1994 as a vice president.

Pester was founded in the mid-1950s in Iowa and has owned and operated service stations and stores in Colorado under the Fina, Pester and Coastal brands since 1975. In addition to the retail side of the business, the company also is a wholesale supplier of branded and unbranded petroleum products and is currently supplied their Phillips 66 branded and unbranded products by Suncor USA. In March 2006, Pester acquired a 50% interest in Alta Fuels, LLC. In Alamosa, Colorado, a terminal company blending ethanol and bio-diesel products with sales to numerous wholesale and retail customers in Colorado and New Mexico.