Never copied, never imitated, it’s the one and only
DIRECTOR SAFETY AND HUMAN RESOURCES: I first hired on at Duckett’s in 1995 as the Director of Safety and Human Resources. The company had grown from one small store to 3 facilities in two states. They had no one person ensuring compliance with all the applicable Federal and state employment laws and safety was just trying to keep the insurance man from finding out anything. I implemented a formal hiring process which covered everything from the initial search, screening processes and orientation to retention. We centralized the filing process and brought everything into compliance. Through a series of incentives, we brought about an awareness of safety that dramatically reduced insurance rates as well as reportable injuries. During this time, I also became the unofficial “computer guy” as we did not have one and I had the most knowledge. Throughout this period Paul Duckett was the only owner of the company. In 2000 he decided to retire and sold out to Truck Centers of Troy, IL. As they already had 3 full time HR people, after the merger had been completed I was laid off in 2001.
MANAGER INFORMATION SYSTEMS: In 2002 while I was still working at Office Depot, Jim Ward, the new Vice President at Duckett’s asked me to come to work for them as their official “computer guy.” Paul Duckett had taken the company back from Truck Centers and hired Jim to run it for him. They had just taken on a new business system and no one had any idea of how to make it work. It was a Windows and MS SQL based system which turned out to be very powerful and flexible once we had someone full time to explore its capabilities. The company continued to grow and I eventually ended up taking care of seven locations in 3 states with 11 servers and over 100 PC’s. I ran everything from our web server, email server, SQL server, domain servers down to helping salesmen email pictures. It was busy! During this time Paul Duckett sold ¾ of the business to 3 partners each with an equal share.
GENERAL MANAGER: In 2008 after an owner disagreement left the Poplar Bluff store without a General Manager, I agreed to take on the additional responsibilities of General Manager as well as my previous position. We had recently hired a very capable young man to help with IT and I believed I could handle both positions. During my tenure the store saw good solid profit and led all other locations in net profit. I was also tasked with the painful closing of the Newport, AR location as the owners had determined the store was not profitable. After a system failure in late August, the first ever on this system, which resulted in 3 days downtime, I was asked to leave on 10/02/09.
It’s interesting that the first full time job I took after leaving the railroad was with a truck dealership. After all, there is no love lost between truckers and railroaders.
- Ability to maintain a MS SQL database.
- Ability to manage and upgrade Windows Server.
- Proficiency in all Windows desktop versions to XP.
- Knowledge of maintenance & repair of all computer hardware.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
- Strong ability to motivate employees.
- Knowledge of Federal and Missouri employment laws.
- Maintain amicable relations with customers.
- Control spending to increase net profit.
- Able to implement difficult changes.