LEGENDS
e s i o n g n Maki r e l i a r T e in th Matthew y r t s u d Gillies in
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ITH HIS FATHER DAVE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN TRAILER building since the 1960’s and growing up immersed in and around the industry, it could be said that Transfleet’s Chief Executive Officer Matthew Gillies was destined to be in trailers - but it’s his dedication to his team, his industry influence and his big voice on the TTMF that makes him a Southpac Legend. “I’m second generation, born into the industry so to speak. My father was involved in the 60s and 70s with Domett Fruehauf and helped set up the branch in Mt Maunganui, that’s where I was born.” Gillies says that the family relocated back to Auckland and his father became a shareholder with Gary Domett in Domett/Fruehauf trailers Auckland Ltd. In the early 80s Gary decided to get out of branch operations so his father Dave bought the balance of the business and changed the name to Transfleet. “Dave wanted to pursue the tipping arena away from flat decks and really wanted to specialise in aluminium and at that point in time there was only really one other company doing it. So dad and mum [Margaret] saw the opportunity to be involved in the tipping industry and it all started from there.” Matthew’s actual introduction to the industry and business began at an early age. “My official start date with Transfleet was the end of ‘93, so that’s 28-years ago. [But before then] I was roaming around the place as a young fella, knee high to a grasshopper in the Domett days. I started off sweeping the floor, I used to come in every holiday and they’d give me something to do, tidying up, filing, working with the guys downstairs, that sort of stuff.” When Matthew left school he took up an Engineering degree, recalling ‘I could see that I was going to be involved in the business somehow’, And in 1993 he was. “I became more involved on the floor and then migrated into the parts side of things to gain a real understanding of that area. And then in the late 90s I was flicked the car keys and told to go and sell.” Gillies says that in sales it was a case of sink or swim. “I had no formal training but I knew I had a good product behind me. I knew I had support from the staff and I trusted that my father
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wasn’t leading me up the garden path.” He still vividly remembers his first sale. “I was in my mid twenties. I walked into the meeting and there were three guys at one end of the boardroom table and me at the other end, I was going ‘hell what have I got myself in for?’, especially after driving all night to get there. But I held my own, and one of the guys dragged me aside afterwards and said ‘we just did that coz you’re a newbie and we wanted to make sure you knew we were serious and knew what we wanted’.” Matthew is a trained engineer, with NZCE and diploma in Engineering and later on went on to do an MBA at Auckland Uni, his business acumen, experience and qualifications evidently taking him to the next level as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Transfleet, a role he has thrived in since 2008. “Dave had witnessed generational things around the industry and he had enough EQ that when I became involved he pulled me to one side and said ‘when my time comes, I’ll always be there in the background (as he still is) but I want to leave you to it. The next generation has to stamp its mark and hopefully I can be there as a mentor and guide to you and the team. I want you to keep up what we started off with’.” Matthew is quick to point out that he is indeed upholding his father’s ‘engineering’ traditions. “We haven’t deviated from that, we’re very much engineers and we have an engineered solution rather than doing the cheapest or the quickest. We take a moral high ground on how we approach things - best practice engineering. We’re pretty
