Pub. 1 2020 Issue 3

Kentucky Trucker 11 KyTrucking.net I called Bill Usher, and about a month later, I was working for him. The next person who had a major impact on my career would be Bill Usher. He’s the reason I have seven college degrees. His philosophy has always been, “if you invest in us, we’ll invest in you.” It’s been a great fit. I started at Usher transport as the assistant safety director, and now I’m the CFO. I’ve had many of my industry colleagues question how one goes from safety to CFO, as it’s certainly an odd combination. However, given the years of service, education, and in-house training I’ve had, it was a natural progression in terms of a new leadership role. The hardest part has been reminding myself that CFO doesn’t necessarily mean “super accountant,” because an accountant I am not. Donnie is 80, and he’s retired. He served 12 years as a county judge. People liked him; I think they felt that he liked them. Bill Usher, of course, isn’t retired, and I still have him as a mentor. Both Donnie and Bill are good folks. They did well in business because they did well with people. That’s a lesson worth learning. What is the most rewarding part of your career? The educational benefits have been very rewarding, but I would have to say it’s getting to serve as an agent of change and actually seeing the change. I think a lot of companies say they are open to change, and then noth- ing happens. I am very fortunate that where I work, it’s legit. We’re open to being better. What do you think will be some of the dominant trends within the trucking industry in the next 5-10 years? Well, first, I think the trucking industry overall is doing better weathering the downturn than other seg- ments of the economy. Consumers are still consuming, and trucking is a big part of the delivery system. The number of trucking jobs is expected to grow by 6% by 2026, so that’s a good thing. I think that COVID has caused some major dis- ruption to our industry’s infrastructure — which is not necessarily a bad thing across the board. For instance, I think a lot of administrative jobs went home, and I don’t believe that they are coming back to the office environment. I think employee produc- tion went up, and a lot of people appreciate being able to work from home. There may be some shifts in van freight. Amazon has been talking drones for years, but the reality of “neat perks” making a big dent in the delivery of consumer goods is not something that I foresee. continued on page 12