The most important part, to me, is that interpersonal component.
What’s your H-E-B story?
My H-E-B story starts on Labor Day 1993 — when I thought I was going to be a Team Leader for the Transportation Delivery Operations Role in San Antonio.
As the story goes, I was preparing to make the transition from my current job at a bus company to H-E-B and was coordinating with the admin of the VP who’d offered me the job, a man named, Joe Orozco, when he calls me and says, “during your interview, you mentioned that you wouldn’t mind relocating – so if you’re interested, we have a different opportunity for you!” even though I hadn’t even officially started at H-E-B yet!
Nonetheless, I accepted the position in the Waco truck terminal which ended up being my first official job assignment at H-E-B. While I was able to complete my onboarding at home in San Antonio, I moved to Waco after 30 days and stayed there for about 10 months. Following my time in Waco, I returned to San Antonio as the Terminal Supervisor, still supporting our Waco terminal in an offsite capacity. From there, my career took off, and I moved into a Senior Manager role with additional oversight of the Corpus Christi and Weslaco truck terminals.
Did your career trajectory only include Transportation?
Something we do within our Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Transportation division (MWT) is encourage the idea of “cross-pollination” — gaining experience from other areas of the company— to create a well-rounded career. So, about 16 years into my career, when an opportunity in warehousing opened for me, I took it.
Even though I had no experience in our warehouses, I accepted the assignment to help open our Weslaco Distribution Center. In 2007, my family and I moved to the valley to help with the official opening of the distribution center that June. It was a fun learning experience for me, and my “secret” to success was to simply surround myself with talented, experienced Partners who filled in the gaps of my warehousing knowledge. Couldn’t have done it without them – and I continue to use that secret in every role!
What did your journey look like after the opening of Weslaco’s distribution center?
About a year later, I was given the opportunity to return to San Antonio to help implement the new Transportation Management System (TMS.) Because I’d spent so many years building relationships with the Transportation Partners who would be most affected by the new system, I was able to use that historical knowledge and those connections to help communicate the change and its significance to them.
While in San Antonio, I also led the outbound side of the Transportation division including direct oversight of all the truck terminals, except for Houston. At this point I also took responsibility for our DCS Operations – the team who unload trailers, and the spotters who move trailers within our campuses and prepare them for shipping.
One day, my VP took me to lunch, and I remember thinking — okay, what’s next? The only place I hadn’t lived yet at that point was Houston, and wouldn’t you know it — that was my next destination!
They wanted me to oversee the Houston Distribution Center, and I gladly accepted as it gave me another opportunity to grow outside my comfort zone of Transportation with the additional oversight of five different warehouses in Houston. While I was there, I was offered the role of VP of the Houston Retail Support Center, which was a huge honor and something I really enjoyed. Of course, my journey did not end in Houston, and they eventually asked me to return to San Antonio to lead the Transportation Outbound Division at H-E-B — and that’s what I’m still doing today!
Wow, that’s quite a journey! What’s your favorite part of your job today?
My favorite part is the opportunity to engage with my Partners. The most important part, to me, is that interpersonal component. Getting to know them as people and understand their strengths and pain points in relation to the work they do equips me to work with them to solve challenges within our operation while also empowering them to get to where they want to be in their careers.
What would you consider the most challenging part of your job?
Leading in the face of unforeseen obstacles that are inevitable in the transportation industry is a challenge for sure. One of these obstacles is the weather. With unplanned weather events, like hurricanes, we can usually estimate what areas will be affected and make decisions to shut down and keep drivers off the road as necessary. However, sometimes events happen, like the snovid storm of 2021, that really throw a wrench in our operations. When that storm happened, we had to completely shut down our operation to keep our drivers safe and off the roads. In my 28 years at that point, I’d never seen anything like it.
Honestly, our drivers are incredible, and I remember them saying things to us like “Let us get out on the roads to get to the stores, we know people need groceries.” A proud moment for sure, to see that embodiment of the Spirit of H-E-B, but balancing that with the necessity of making sure every driver makes it home safely that night is a challenge for sure.
What’s next for you?
I’ve been very blessed to have a great career at H-E-B, and I’d love to stay where I am until I retire. What’s next for me is leaving a strong foundation for future Transportation leaders. I’m at the tail end of my career, so my focus is passing down the wisdom and insight I’ve gleaned and using that to guide Partners to build the Transportation division for the future.
While the day-to-day stuff matters and is integral to keeping a smooth-running operation, it’s also important to me as a leader to cast the vision to future leaders, drivers, Partners, spotters, etc. by helping them understand the significance of their impact to our supply chain and to our communities.
What they do matters!
What’s been a memorable moment at H-E-B for you?
In Transportation, we have what we call the Driver Hall of Fame which is an event where we recognize and celebrate drivers that have achieved 1 million safe miles at H-E-B — a huge accomplishment! At one specific event, Charles Butt was in attendance. Usually, we ask the officers who are in attendance to join us on the stage and help us congratulate the inductees, so Charles and several others joined us on stage. He stands right next to me, and I clearly remember being so nervous! Two things stood out to me about this moment. First, he is standing there giving me the most intense look and I could tell he was really listening to everything I was saying. Afterwards, I got a handwritten note from him thanking me for speaking and honoring the winners so well. The whole night was memorable, but that moment stood out to me.
What advice would you give others about working at H-E-B?
People know H-E-B as a grocery company, but we are truly so much more than that. There are so many career paths available here, and so many ways to invest in yourself and in your growth for the future so you really can control the destiny of your career. H-E-B is a great place to work, and I couldn’t recommend working anywhere else.
