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- Category: Bulletin
For immediate release:
PMTC ANNOUNCES INDUCTEES TO HALL OF FAME FOR PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS
The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada inducted 4 exceptional drivers into the HALL OF FAME FOR PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS during the 2nd day of its annual conference on June 19th in Niagara Falls, On.
The Hall of Fame is sponsored by CPC Logistics Canada. Drivers from PMTC member companies are recognized for superior over the road performance over an extended period of time. The Hall of Fame provides a permanent recognition of their abilities and can be found on the PMTC website at www.pmtc.ca.
“Professional drivers are the backbone of the industry. The supply chain does not function without the essential service they provide us each & every day. The skills of these 4 professional truck drivers are evident to all who encounter them & are especially valued by the industry & their employers,” said PMTC President Mike Millian. “These professionals compile safe driving records that are beyond amazing, considering all the adverse conditions they face every day. Only a select few can equal the caliber of the drivers in the Hall of Fame. The industry and the PMTC salutes these individuals, & we are honoured to be able to recognize their achievements & amazing careers.”
The 2024 inductees are Dave Lalande, Bob Kestner, Michael Limburg & John Robinson. Together, these 4 individuals have amassed an incredible 158 years and over 15.7 million kilometers of accident-free driving.
The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada and CPC Logistics Canada are pleased to induct these four professionals into the Hall of Fame for Professional Drivers.
Dave Lalande
Giant Tiger Trucking
Dave joined Giant Tiger in Johnstone, Ontario in 1989 as a store delivery driver, shortly after he obtained his AZ license. Prior to coming to Giant Tiger, Dave began his driving career delivering auto parts with a 5 ton for 2 years with a branch out of Ottawa.
Dave is currently a hybrid driver who helps move Giant Tiger Products both by LCV’s as well as continuing to provide support with store delivery routes.
Dave has a top notch commitment to service & safety, as Dave’s 35 years & over 4.9 million km’s of accident and incident free driving clearly demonstrates.
Dave is also committed to community involvement with Giant Tiger, taking the Tiger Train to numerous community events during the year. When not at work, Dave enjoys spending time with his spouse Teresa of 16 years, being out on his boat & camping, & spending time with his Grandson.
Bob Kestner
Home Hardware Stores Ltd.
Bob grew up on a farm in Bruce County, near the small town of Mildmay, with 2 brothers & 3 sisters. Bob learned to drive tractors & operate farm machinery at an early age, with some of his earliest memories getting up pre down to head out with his dad in his milk truck. Just shy of 18, Bob headed to Toronto to attend college, & graduated in General Business & Business Administration. At that time, trucking was not on Bob’s radar.
After college, Bob returned to Bruce County & took a sales route position with Weston Bakeries, which gave him his introduction to driving, as he filled in for delivery drivers on vacation. After 5 years in Walkerton, Bob transferred to the Kitchener facility, taking on the Kitchener/Stratford territory, & serving on the peer elected driver committee. After Weston, Bob joined Key Brand Foods delivering to restaurants. 23 years ago, Bob left Key Brand and began his journey at Home Hardware.
During Bob’s impeccable safe driving career, covering over 38 years and 4 million km’s of accident free driving, covering Ontario, Quebec & the Maritimes, he has encountered his fare share of unsafe driving & stressful situations. One such encounter occurred in Northern, Ontario. During stormy conditions, he was forced to the shoulder to avoid a head on collision with an oncoming Tractor Trailer. The driver continued driving in an unsafe manner & shortly after crashed into another transport truck, leading in the fatality of the other driver. Bob came forward as a witness, & testified at trial, & was able to help ensure the driver who caused the fatality was held accountable & was able to meet the family of the victim. Bob also witnessed a car flip upside down into the ditch during a heavy rainstorm on Highway 400. Bob pulled over, called 911, and was able to wait with the girl, who thankfully was not injured, until help arrived.
Bob is married to his wife Karen of 38 years and is the proud father of a son & daughter, and grandpa to a grandson. In his free time, Bob likes to travel, spend time with family, visiting his trailer in Goderich, riding his motorcycle & taking on home projects.
Michael Limburg
Darling International Canada Inc.
Michael has been a professional driver for Darling for the last 22 years, performing pickups in the Toronto area, and returning to his home base in Hickson, Ontario, a small town in rural Southern Ontario. Michael is also a licensed mechanic, & frequently starts early in the morning, helping other drivers with minor repairs before the garage opens for the day. Michale also frequently trains other drivers at Darling, both new and experienced drivers, whenever needed.
Darling introduced a “Smart Drive” program a little over 2 years ago. Smart Drive utilizes dash cams & monitors following distance, lane management, railroad crossings, wrong way driving, vehicle control, stopping, yielding, speeding, unprofessional driving, situational awareness, seatbelt usage, collisions & near collisions. Michael has never received a violation of any kind since the system has been put into use. Since its inception, over 300 drivers have operated under the Smart Drive Program, & during this time, no driver has come even close to Michael’s accomplishment!
Overall, Michael has 39 years and 2.3 million km’s of accident, incident and violation free driving, a truly incredible feet! Michael resides in Hickson, On with his wife & stepdaughter.
John Robinson
Gray Ridge Egg Farms
John’s driving career began on October 30th of 1978, & his entire 46 years career has been spent with Gray Ridge Eggs. Gray Ridge says they have been fortunate to have John’s talents shared with new drivers when they join the team. John has ridden along to train & assist countless drivers over the years, as well as spending many early mornings on the phone helping drivers out who need assistance on their runs.
When Gray Ridge expanded across Ontario John established the runs up North in Sudbury & Sault Saint Marie, building relationships & working with the store managers. John has built relationships with many store owners as well as the egg farmers he has worked with over the years.
John says he got into the trucking industry to prove his teacher wrong when she told him he would never make a career out of looking out the window. 46 years & over 4 million km’s later of accident-free driving, I would say John has been successful in proving his teacher wrong!
In his personal life, John has been married to his wife Mary for 49 years. The couple has two daughters, one who lives in Australia with her husband & 3 children. Their other daughter lives next to John & Mary with 3 children of her own. John & Mary like to go to Australia as much as possible to see them, & John says the golf is not bad there either!
For more information, contact:
Private Motor Truck Council of Canada Tel: 905-827-0587
225 Main Street East, Unit 5 email: info@pmtc.ca
Milton, Ontario, L9T 1N9 website: www.pmtc.ca
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For immediate release
PMTC ANNOUNCES RECEIPIENT OF THE 2024 RICK AUSTIN MEMORIAL DISPATCHER AWARD
The PMTC and CPC Logistics Canada announced the recipient of The Rick Austin Memorial Dispatcher of the Year Award on June 19th as part of the PMTC’s 2024 Annual Conference in Niagara Falls, On. This award was established in 2018 to honor the memory of one of CPC’s Fleet Dispatchers, Rick Austin, who passed away suddenly on March 15th of 2017.
Rick began his career in the Transportation Industry right out of high school, starting with a dry wall company loading, tarping and strapping trucks. Rick joined the John Deere Canadian Fleet on November 25, 1991, and quickly developed a reputation as a dependable driver with a great work ethic. Rick earned his Million Mile Award and started to train to provide relief dispatch, and then moved into the full-time dispatch role in 2000. Rick received the CPC Logistics President’s Award in recognition of his exceptional loyalty, service and dedication.
Because of his years on the road, Rick fully understood the demands and strains on a long-haul driver, and became not just a Dispatcher, but a good friend and wise council to many drivers over the years. Rick always took the time to communicate with the drivers and tried to make sure that they kept life in balance.
This award is designed to help recognize the exceptional and often under-appreciated efforts of Dispatchers who have made an outstanding contribution to their company over their career.
The 2024 Rick Austin Memorial Dispatcher of the year award went to Carrie Scarselli of John Deere Canada ULC.
Information and background for Carrie.
Carrie began her career at John Deere 6 years ago, being hired to fill the role that was left vacant as a result of Rick’s tragic passing. Carrie had a daunting task in front of her.
Carrie started her career in Transportation at the age of 20, working for Apex Driving School answering calls & performing bookkeeping duties. From there, Carrie worked for a Customs Broker for 6 years, which lead her to work as a Safety Coordinator for a floral distributor. From that position, Carrie was introduced to other branches of shipping, receiving, dispatching as well as warehousing. Carrie eventually began working for a Transportation Company as a Safety Coordinator. This was Carrie’s final steppingstone before coming to CPC to manage the John Deere Fleet. Carrie was recommended to us by a previous employer to Charlie Shields, John Deere’s former safety manager. Her previous employer told us that Carrie just had a way with people, would work shoulder to shoulder with drivers & always meshed well with a team.
When Carrie started, she quickly learned who all the drivers were, found common ground, & within months was a full-fledged teammate.
Carrie is always available to the office staff & drivers, ensuring she is available for support whether it is early in the morning or late into the evening. She always takes the time to listen, & has been instrumental in modernizing our processes, eliminating unnecessary paperwork for drivers as well as the shipping office.
Carrie is a cheerleader for the teams safety goals, believing & communicating that perfection, or at least near perfection, is possible, & has an open door policy with everyone. There is genuine respect between Carrie & the team. A true testament to the respect Carrie has earned is the 30 drivers who took time to provide testimonials for her application, with over 20 of them taking the time to insert meaningful comments supporting her submission & laying out the reasons why. There are too many testimonials to read them all, however the main themes from the drivers testimonials were, Carries takes the time to listen, genuinely cares about their wellbeing & that of the company, is there to answer questions whenever it is needed, always there for them, goes above & beyond what her role requires. The respect that goes both ways between Carrie & the team is evident in the testimonials. Carrie is a very deserving recipient of this year’s award.
For more information, please contact:
Private Motor Truck Council of Canada Tel: 905-827-0587
225 Main Street East, Unit 5 email: info@pmtc.ca
Milton, Ontario, L9T 1N9 website: www.pmtc.ca
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