UC Blue Ash announces 2026 outstanding alumni award winner

Mark Brueggeman has enjoyed a long and successful business career that includes launching his own petrochemical distribution company that has clients around the world and grosses more than $150 million per year.

It was hard to imagine all of this when Brueggeman enrolled at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College as a bright-eyed freshman after growing up in Kenwood, one of five kids. More than four decades after first stepping on campus, he has been selected as the recipient of 2026 UC Blue Ash College Outstanding Alumni Award.

Brueggeman was in Cincinnati in April to attend the UC Alumni Celebration and see the unveiling of the mural in Over the Rhine that includes all of the university’s alumni honorees for 2026. He also took time to the visit the UC Blue Ash campus and says he still has fond memories of the college and its impact on his future success.

“I made a lot of great friends here, and I remember one of my math teachers, Dr. Marsh. He really helped me get through some difficult courses,” said Brueggeman. “I just wasn’t where I needed to be in math and science, but the academics I picked up in my freshman and sophomore years at UC Blue Ash gave me the tools I needed to be successful.”

Brueggeman took the foundation he built at UC Blue Ash and continued to thrive at UC’s Lindner College of Business where he earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing and economics in 1981.

He says he is humbled to be honored with the Outstanding Alumni Award all these years later.

“I really did not expect this, but it truly is an honor to be thought of so highly from the college you attended. This was really a surprise to me, but I’m very, very excited to receive this award,” said Brueggeman.

After starting his career in industrial sales in Cincinnati he soon moved to Houston, Texas and gained valuable experience in the petrochemical industry, including 15 years working for Chevron, which included positions in sales and executive management. Brueggeman eventually made the move to go on his own and launched PERIN Resources LLC in 2004.

The company provides marketing and logistics support to the petrochemical industry that includes negotiating sales and coordinating deliveries around the world. With more than $150 million in annual gross revenue, PERIN has grown substantially since Brueggeman started it from his home in Houston with an idea and $0 in revenue.

“That’s what happens when you put your nose to the grindstone, you hire good people, and you develop the time and talent and tools to continue to grow your business,” he said. “It’s been a joy getting up and going to work every day because I’m working with the friends and the people I’ve grown with throughout the industry. And now what really tops it off is I’ve got my oldest son working with me. So, it’s going to be passed on to the next generation.”

Brueggeman and his wife, Elizabeth, are also sharing their success with the next generation of UC Blue Ash students. They believe in the importance of a quality education and recently created the Brueggeman Family Scholars Fund to support students who are studying business administration with plans to continue their education at UC’s Lindner College of Business. The scholarship will follow the students all the way to their bachelor’s degree and help them pursue their dreams the way Mark Brueggeman has since his early days as a Bearcat.

Featured photo: Mark Brueggeman on the UC Blue Ash campus.