I also began working on LPG forklifts from Toyota and Komatsu plus electric walkie stackers and pallet jacks from Crown and Yale. When I moved up to the day shift, I was putting out fires all day long, primarily with trailers, but if anything went down, I was on it. Any tractor or trailer we signed off on could be nit-picked by the DOT and pass without a flag. It was operable but needed TLC, I’m proud to say we brought it up to be the A team. I joined a group tasked with turning the fleet of route tractors and trailers around in Newport News. It felt comfortable, there was room to grow in a large company. I was with the Pepsi Corporation for a number of years, starting out on the second shift as a tractor and trailer mechanic in Newport News, VA eventually moving up to Fleet Lead in Richmond, VA. I worked there for over ten years and loved it, before moving on a better opportunity with Pepsi.

I have a VA State Inspection License, MAC refrigerant certification, Air Brake certification, and Class A CDL with Passenger Bus Endorsement. I started out in the Fleet Diesel Industry as a Tech 3 Diesel technician performing routine maintenance to major repairs on buses in my hometown for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA).

To put it in perspective, I’ll give you a bit of my personal history. Folks will ask me how I came to leave my warm home State of Virginia and the security as a Fleet Lead with the World’s biggest soft drink maker for the cold of Chicago and the Assistant Service Manager position at Big Joe.

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