Gary Osorno, president and CEO of AccuTrans, sings happy birthday over the phone every year to each of his 59 Kenner-based employees.

He also emails them on the anniversary of their first day on the job, hands out New Orleans Saints tickets and hosts company fishing trips.

Osorno is also known to regularly ask workers, “Got any good ideas for me today?”

“Gary treats everybody here like part of his family,” said James Hannah, 56, a tankerman at AccuTrans for the past 16 years. “It’s the most positive, family-oriented workplace you’ll ever see.”

Founded in 2002, AccuTrans provides tankermen and quality assurance technicians to oversee the transfer of liquid cargo aboard ships and inland barges. The company, headquartered in Kenner and with offices in Texas, serves customers along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and adjoining rivers.

Most AccuTrans employees spend their days in the field. But the attention the company shows its staff, and the sense of togetherness its leader fosters, has earned the loyalty of longtime employees and helped recruit 26 new employees in the past 12 months. It expects to hire another 20 by this time next year.

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