MESILLA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION
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2016 “INNOVATION DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN A LEADER AND A FOLLOWER”
www.m-v-t.com
M A Y — J U N E
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A Great member of our MVT TEAM
Employee News
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For those who haven't met me, my name is Kimberly Hermes. I am the Manager of Training and Development here at MVT. A little bit about myself, I was raised in Germany, (speak fluent German) but my US home is Miami, Florida. My parents are from New York & New Jersey. I have a 13-year-old son named Connor. His passion right now is basketball. Although I have never been on a basketball team, my son makes me play with him every day. After working in the restaurant industry for 15 years, as a 31-year-old single mother, I went back to school to complete my bachelors and masters here in El Paso. To celebrate, my son and I backpacked across Europe for a month. I am about to celebrate my 1-year anniversary with husband Kevin, who has been in the United States Army for 10 years now and has deployed to Afghanistan twice. So now we are a Miami Hurricanes, Texas Tech, Rangers, Cowboys household.
Kim Hermes INSIDE Insider Letter
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Foghat Concert
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I have had 11 immediate family members serve in the armed forces and my grandfather was the highest ranking Green Beret KIA in Vietnam. I did the Bataan death march once and I was more proud of finishing that than I was college! (It was so hard!) If you watch 30 Rock, I’m pretty much a real life Liz Lemon; our fascination for food is pretty similar. If I could be anywhere, I’d be in the Florida Keys, in a hammock listening to Jimmy Buffett. At work, I love helping people develop into great contributors and leaders. I believe we are all leaders in different ways regardless if your position is supervisory or not. Helping a person find their version of success is so rewarding and is truly what drives me. I love being the force in the background…I hate the spotlight which makes this bio so ironic!
Sincerely, Kim
Hermes
Manager of Training and Development From Left to right: Husband Kevin, Kim, and son Conner.
“LEADERS DON’T CREATE FOLLOWERS THEY CREATE MORE LEADERS” -Tom Peters
Mesilla Valley Transportation Films Testimonial for Allison TC10
Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT), one of the country’s largest dry freight transportation companies and one of the first companies to add the Allison TC10® transmission to its fleet, invited Allison to its headquarters in El Paso, Texas to film a short testimonial video. A longtime frontrunner when it comes to adopting new technology to improve its fuel economy, MVT has been testing the TC10 in its fleet for well over a year and the results have been dramatic, improving both vehicle and driver performance. During filming, Royal Jones, president and CEO, Mesilla Valley Transportation said, “An Allison transmission makes your worst fuel mileage people almost equivalent to your best fuel mileage people." According to Jones, MVT has seen a more-than-significant improvement in performance and fuel economy gains in its TC10-equipped trucks. MVT has been so impressed with the performance of the TC10, nearly 33 percent of the fleet's class 8 tractors will be equipped with TC10s by the end of the year. “I was a traditional guy that thought everybody should be in a manual 10-speed…I have changed my outlook and my philosophy,” said Allan Dahringer, vice president of equipment and maintenance. Jones and Dahringer say in addition to improved performance and gas mileage, the TC10 is far easier for their drivers to operate and learn. They expect this to increase driver retention as well as driver performance and comfort. "Your shoulders don't hurt as much, you are not having to shift, you're much safer, you can concentrate on the road, keep both hands on the steering wheel and work productively," said Dahringer.
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On April 2, 2016 Charles was on the roads of Georgia in the middle of a storm. Curley noticed there was a small car under water on the side of the road and without hesitation he stopped his truck to save the family inside. There were 5 individuals trapped in the car under water without a chance to grab a gasp of air. He noticed one of the individuals was pregnant and quickly directed his attention in trying to help save her and her baby’s life. “I didn’t show emotion in front of people but behind closed doors it bothered me deeply”. He has children of his own, Diamond Charles, Eric Charles, Mike Arthur and Von Treyvion Charles. His 4 kids were his motivation behind trying to save this family. Thinking to himself, “What if it were my kids under the water”? Personally asked him how he felt to be awarded Highway Angel, his response, “Great! Like Tony the Tiger”. We are thankful to have people with such strength in his heart working for MVT. Makes our family proud. Sadly, the 5 individuals did not make it but Curley’s courage will not be forgotten. His words were, “A life is not worth living if you don’t lay it down for a friend; a friend doesn’t have to be one you know”. Thank you Curley your courage spoke loud to us!
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Written by Alex Valenzuela
Pictured from left to right: Royal Jones (Owner), Curley J. Charles, (MVT Driver) and Tony Black (Safety Director)
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Written by Alex Valenzuela
Business Attire
Our El Paso summer forecast in never in our favor when it comes to business attire. For men, we don’t want to be caught wearing a tie when those temperatures get out of hand. Women, we want to be comfortable and wear our favorite slips-on. But Staff, we are Mesilla Valley Transportation, a High Performance Transportation Company! Fashion police is coming by to give the team some reminders/tips on how to keep out professional look. Do build your wardrobe around a key color. Red, white and blue are our company colors. Never shy away from those key colors. Soft colors, such as light blue, gray and champagne always look sophisticated.
Wednesday & Friday , Jeans are allowed!! Do dress for Success! We are implementing at least one day a week to show off our fancy shoes and favorite tie. Tuesday will now be known as Tasty Tuesday. Every Tuesday, ladies show off that cute summer dress and gentlemen we want to see those modern ties. Continue page 7
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Do not wear shorts, short skirts or see-through shirts. We want to keep our team looking as professional as possible with little distraction on things we do not need to see. Do maintain that mane. Grooming is an important factor in tying the look all together. Having a well-groomed hairstyle won’t bring in more revenue but you’ll look good while you do! We want to push MVT to be great overall, this is just a minor adjustment that can help us get there!
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Helping Our Homeless Veterans Homelessness? Is that a word that ever crosses your mind? Or something that you worry about on a day to day bases? Not knowing where you’ll be sleeping tonight or if you’ll have a hot meal to fill your belly is common thinking for many of Las Cruces locals. Over coming this obstacle is hard enough, asking for help is another. The Mesilla Valley Community of Hope is located off of Amador where people who are struggling can seek help and assistance. With all of Community of Hopes efforts there are still many on the street due to lack of funding or even awareness that they even exist. Talking about these issues helps get the word out and bringing light to an issue that is mostly forgotten about if it doesn’t involve yourself or a loved one.
MVT will be hosting their second annual Charity golf Tournament “Fore our homeless Heroes” this event will be held at Red Hawk Golf Club, Friday September 9th, 2016. Proceeds from this event will benefit Mesilla Valley Community of Hope assisting their programs for homeless veterans.
Poverty, lack of support from or networks, and substandard housing put about 1.4 million veterans at risk for homelessness. We will be partnering up with Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. This charity helps address homelessness and poverty in Las Cruces and Dona Ana. Their mission is to promote dignity and empowerment among the homeless population by providing case management, disability and income assistance and permanent housing. Recently, they had the New Mexico Department of Veterans grant pulled to their program helping Military veterans find permeant housing in Las Cruces. This grant was $22,300 that was cut and there is more to come that could total to $88,000 of federal grant money. So being that Mesilla Valley Transportation is a company that proudly supports their veterans, what better way than to put our money where our mouth is. So please join me and our team on planning out this event to make sure it is another success tournament.
“The 70’s Called...” An outdoor concert, Foghat live, bringing together the community to help those in need. Las Cruces, NM, 6-24-16 Red Hawk Golf Club, is pleased to announce the launch of their “Fore our Homeless Heroes, Foghat live” outdoor concert, to be held Friday September 9th, 2016 at Red Hawk Golf Club in Las Cruces, NM. The Foghat Concert will proceed the Mesilla Valley Transportation 2nd Annual Charity Golf Tournament on September 9th, 2016. The golf tournament and a portion of all Foghat concert ticket sales will benefit the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. This local charity helps address homelessness and poverty in Las Cruces and Dona Ana, NM. Their mission is to promote dignity and empowerment among the homeless population by providing case management, disability and income assistance and permanent housing. Recently, they had the New Mexico Department of Veterans grant pulled from their program helping Military veterans find permanent housing in Las Cruces. The grant that was cut totaled $22,300 and there is more to come that could total to $88,000 of federal grant money. Last year the Mesilla Valley Transportation tournament alone raised $42,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project and we plan to increase that number this year! This concert will be held at Red Hawk Golf Club on the beautiful green driving range and all ages are welcome, doors open at 6:30 pm and music will start at 7:00 pm. Bring your family, lawn chairs, enjoy the food, full bar, and venders while listening to the 70’s Foghat classic’s like Slow Ride and Fool for the City. “This event will be one of a kind,” says owner Royal Jones “Not only is it an event for the entire family but an event that helps and supports our local community. Red Hawk Golf Club and Mesilla Valley Transportation both proudly supports their veterans, what better way than to put our money where our mouth is and give back to those who fought for our country.” Please join us for the great event.
Foghat’s live performances show why the band is still around today and why they will be able to keep on rockin’ as long as they want. This band truly is timeless. Their audience consists of all ages. From the young kids who play Guitar Hero III and know all of the lyrics to ‘Slow Ride’, to the Dazed & Confused generation of 30-40 somethings and the ‘boomers’ who bought Foghat’s first vinyl or 8 track! All tickets are $30 general admission. Tickets will go on sale Friday July 8 th, 2016 and can be purchased online at golflascruces.com or holdmyticket.com, and at Red Hawk Golf Club on 7502 Red Hawk Golf Road. For more information or to arrange an interview please call Emily Roof, at (575) 571 3783 or via e-mail at emily.roof@m -v-t.com or Michelle Rogers at (575) 373-8100 or michelle.rogers@redhawkgc.com
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MVT Safety Dept. Accepted ELearning! Top 100 Award Elearning! recognizes the top 100 global learning organizations for high performance. Compromised of 60 corporate enterprises and 40 public sector organizations. MVT is honored right next to corporate companies such as American Heart Association, AT&T, Facebook etc. Kim Hermes – Training & Development Manager says “It means the world to us”. Starting out as an account manager here at MVT back in June of 2012, Hermes and co-worker at the time, Luis Garcia, saw a vision for a team behind a structured training & development department. Starting out with 5 dedicated individuals led up to a team of 8 people. Hermes says “The team goes above and beyond to get the mission completed. They’d go to the moon and back for me and I’d go above and beyond for them”. Speaking with Kim I quickly learned that the team-work is their biggest asset. It is very important to them that the personalities flow and they get the job done well. “Moving rocks” not placing rocks in each other’s path. Grovo was responsible for nominating MVT and they had the honor of accepting our award in Anaheim, CA on June 7th. This award will soon join the team here at the El Paso MVT location. We are very proud of you Safety department! Keep up the great work! “GREAT LEADERS ARE NEVER TOO PROUD TO LEARN”
MVT’s Awesome Training Department
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Written by Cassidy Lee
Review
Did you know the word google is now officially recognized as being a verb in the English language, and when you tell someone to ‘google it’ you are literally telling them to use the search engine Google to research information? Don’t believe me? Google it!
It is amazing how the second a question pops into my head I instinctually reach for my cell phone and look up the answer on Google, and I’m sure I am not the only one who does that. With copious information right at our fingertips we, as consumers, are utilizing online information more than ever before. We look up restaurants, nail salons, auto body shops, apartment complexes, hotels, trucking companies, and everything in between to help decide if we are going to purchase a product or service. Google.com has created their own platform for consumers to write reviews and rate a business on a 5-star scale, and this feedback is immediately displayed on the right side of the screen when the business is searched for on Google. Often times these 5-star scale rating and customer feedback act as the company’s first impression because it is the first information the potential customer views, and rarely do they have a perfect 5-star ratings with all excellent experiences. But, the mix of good and bad feedback is necessary considering no business is perfect. Needless to say having an accurate representation of the business on Google is important, and this is why the Marketing Department at Mesilla Valley Transportation is actively pushing to increase the amount of Google Reviews. We strive for potential MVT customers and employees to be able to read the reviews and get a good sense of who MVT is and what we are all about. Currently, as a result of our campaign, we have received several new reviews on Google and they truly are exciting to read! Many of the reviews are from employees that have expressed their true dedication to MVT and consider this organization to be family. We aspire to continue receiving more Google Reviews in the future to aide in building our presence and reputation online. So, if you haven’t reviewed MVT on Google please do!
Hey MVT! Closing in on almost two months of being an official Mesilla Valley Transportation employee I have been motivated more and more each day working alongside everyone! I’ve been given opportunities to shadow a regular day in in the office in the Safety, E-Logs, Recruiting and HR department. Coming from a person that had very little knowledge of the transportation industry, I am absorbing the information and I am impressed in the work that goes in to make this company run. Each department is very different, but the overall fire has been the same! There are a couple of future projects that Emily, Cassidy and I have been brainstorming about and we are excited to have you all apart of them. As far as outside of work, I like to take any opportunity to travel. One of my favorite places to visit over the weekend is Ruidoso. The scenery is great and I love the outdoors. I don’t have kids but I am a mother of a crazy energetic German Shepard. She keeps me active and that I enjoy too! Hope to bring a lot to MVT to keep the ball rolling while this company grows. Bye guys, thank you!
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-Alex Valenzuela
Building I have officially been a part of the MVT Family for over a month now and I love it! Each week I find myself bouncing between the Border International, Red Hawk Golf Club, and Mesilla Valley Transportation offices as I work on a plethora of different projects. Some of the highlights so far have been going to Career Day at Mesilla Valley Elementary with Joe and Louie, working on the September 9th Foghat Concert at Red Hawk Golf Club, taking photos for Driver Appreciation Day, shadowing the Safety and E-Logs Departments at MVT El Paso, and passing out the Father’s Day treats. I must admit I have learned more about the trucking industry than I ever thought I would. In fact, I’m confident I could fill out a paper log if I had to! I truly have had nothing but great experiences and am looking forward to the upcoming months. I’d like to give a special thanks to everyone who has taken time out of their busy work day to answer my questions and teach me little by little what makes these businesses run.
-Cassidy Lee
WWW.M-V-T.COM
July 15– July 16
JOIN THE MVT FAMILY TODAY. JOIN US FOR A 2 DAY JOB FAIR AT: 1115 N. ZARAGOZA, EL PASO TX 79907 Friday July 15, 2016 9am -4pm Saturday July 16, 2016 9am -2pm
Letter from the Editor Man, time sure flies by… I feel like this year just started and now we are already half way through it! So I have some pretty exciting news, for those of you who didn’t know I’m expecting a baby girl early this November. So for those of you who have noticed the extra weight gain in my stomach region. It’s not just a food baby.. It’s an actual baby! Who would have thought!? Lol I have to say I’m pretty nervous/excited for the whole thing. The best things in life come when you least expect it. So like anything else I’m up for the challenge. Huge Shout out to Cassidy and Alex who are part of the marketing team. They have been helping out a ton getting everything planned out for the year. There are a lot of exciting events coming up this year. So keep a look out and be sure to get involved. Be part of the change. Change a little and you could change a lot. Be positive! Throw kindness around like its confetti. Together we can make the world better for each other. Tomorrow will be better because you’ll make today awesome. “BE BOLD. BE KIND. BE AWESOME!”
Emily K. Roof Marketing Director “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle!
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The MVT Way
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