Page 28 - ATR 4 2014 web

The tan, 59-year-old Cushman is a 300 new customers, customers that we Northeast who had worked with a com-
native of Chicago Heights, Ill. He grew never had done business with before, all pany we had bought, called Decker. The
up with two brothers and a sister; his that in a year. That’s a huge number.” first thing he did when we went in to a
parents are gone now. All the kids had Cushman was very confident about customer was lay down a card that said
dark complexions that screamed of the opportunity at PAM. He said, “I had ‘Decker.’ So, we talked to the customer,
Italian heritage, he said, and dark hair, people I know, when I was thinking and he didn’t understand what the
except for Dan. “I used to be a tow- about taking the job, telling me ‘That broad company PAM Transport was.”
head,” he said. “Everybody used to tease
me, ‘Where did the blonde hair come
from?’”
Tontitown in Washington County, “eVeN though the CirCumstaNCes were dire,
just a short distance west of Springdale he had a VisioN for a traNsformed pam
on U.S. Highway 412, was settled by traNsport from the Very begiNNiNg. he set
Italians who grew grapes for wine and
opened a few Italian food restaurants out oN the jourNey to reshape the busiNess
that grew to be favorites for Arkansans. aNd CompaNy Culture, aNd methodiCally begiN
Cushman, though, recalls arriving in to implemeNt his strategiC plaN.”
Tontitown in 2009 and being taken
to legendary Mary Maestri’s, ready to
sample some of the food he’d heard —mark broCkiNtoN,
so much about and compare it to maNagiNg direCtor, aoN risk serViCes
what he’d grown up with back home.
Right off the bat, the dining party was
informed that the restaurant had lost company will never make money again.’ The customer had loved Decker,
its liquor license, so a highly anticipated But I hadn’t met any of the people here so Cushman explained that PAM
glass of red wine was out. yet. One of the things wrong was the Transport was a 1500 truck company.
That welcome may have seemed lack of revenue because of lack of diver- He realized that’s not what customer
unpromising, but it was not an omen of sification. That was one of my strong saw.
what was to come for PAM Transport. suits, and once I met some of my team- Cushman knew then and there, he
mates, I was confident we could and had to roll all of PTSI’s holdings into
TurnIng IT arounD would turn it around.” one.
“When I was contacted about the Last year was the long-awaited “I didn’t want anybody looking at
job [at PAM], the economy had suf- breakthrough. The stock price has hit us in a limited scope,” said Cushman,
fered,” he said. “I can’t speak for the an all-time high of $41 in the past 12 who has endeavored to stay active with
entire industry, but a lot of trucking months. PAM’s customer base himself, getting a
companies had taken a hit. PAM was hit “We’ve been experiencing a lot of better feel for how those customers per-
particularly hard.” all-time highs,” he said. ceived PAM within the industry.
“When I was being talked to about There was still the matter of all He found over the past five years
the position, the company was described those flags signifying the companies that he had to change the view that
to me as very automotive dependent. that belonged to PAM, yet operated PAM’s customer base was mostly mov-
It was only true in part; it was really under their own banner — companies ing automotive parts across the country,
dependent on one automotive cus- such as Decker in the Northeast and but yet maintain a strong position in
tomer.” Choctaw in Oklahoma. Cushman that arena it knew so well.
A significant portion of PAM’s busi- believed business would be better served “We do that and we do that very
ness was with General Motors, which if those subsidiaries were put under the well,” he said of PAM’s work with the
was rocked in 2008-09 by big losses PAM flag. automotive industry. “But we do a lot
that forced it to declare bankruptcy and “Before I got here, I looked at our more than just that.”
the federal government to step in with website and said, ‘What are you looking Cushman said his goal was to do
a bailout. GM’s struggles hit PAM at its for me to be head of, PAM Transport or less with GM and more with others.
core. It was obvious to Cushman that all these individual companies?’” “It’s still our top automotive cus-
the company had to grow its customer Cushman recalls the individual tomer, but one of the things I made sure
base and diversify. companies under PAM Transport, of, I never apologize for being great at
“We did that successfully,” he said. “What scared the heck out of me was I something. But let’s be great at it with
“Over the next year, we brought in made a sales call with a salesman in the several customers.”

28 ArkAnsAs truckinG rePort | issue 4 2014