3 minute read
Mustang Cat: Committed To a Workplace Culture of Servant Leadership
Creating A Recognizable Difference in The Communities in Which They Serve
Mustang Cat is a privately held Caterpillar (Cat) Dealer headquartered in Houston, Texas, that has been at the forefront of construction and power systems equipment for over 70 years. However, they go beyond serving Houston and Southeast Texas with equipment and service solutions. Mustang Cat is committed to a workplace culture of servant leadership, enriching Greater Houston and Southeast Texas through continuous company involvement and charitable contributions in the communities where their employees and customers live and work.
While community outreach has always been a pillar of the Mustang Cat culture, they established the Mustang Cat Charitable Foundation with Greater Houston Community Foundation ten years ago, allowing them to develop a more focused and strategic approach to their company’s corporate giving program. The Mustang Cat Charitable Foundation has awarded over $3.8 million to various organizations throughout Texas.
“Greater Houston Community Foundation took us through a discernment process to help us prioritize what issues are important to our company and align with our culture,” stated Anna Keyes, Director of Community Outreach at Mustang Cat. “We landed on ‘basic human needs,’ meaning food, shelter, clothing, health, and security. In turn, the Mustang Cat Charitable Foundation ends up supporting a lot of food banks, crisis centers, and neighborhood assistance ministries in over 35 counties throughout the greater Houston area and Southeast Texas.”
Mustang Cat is committed to making a difference in the communities in which they serve and operate. To help identify and direct funds to local nonprofits, Mustang Cat works directly with their regional store managers across their various locations to get a realtime pulse on organizations needing funding for basic human needs specific to that region.
Like many corporations, Mustang Cat has seen a shift in workforce priorities, including a stronger desire to make positive change. Mustang Cat has a robust corporate citizenship program of servant leadership, providing employees with opportunities to give back, which is a significant part of their recruitment process to attract and retain top talent that aligns with its corporate values.
In addition to the Mustang Cat Charitable Foundation, after years of trying to assist employees with gift and debit cards, Mustang Cat has set up an official Employee Disaster Relief Fund managed by Greater Houston Community Foundation. Since it was established in 2016, the Mustang Cat Employee Disaster Relief Fund has awarded emergency financial assistance to employees whose families were negatively impacted by a number of hurricanes and tropical storm events that were declared major disasters.
We believe we have a responsibility to give back to the communities we serve, and we place a high value on our partnership with Greater Houston Community Foundation. The relationship and expertise that they share help us put our strategy and culture of servant leadership in action, where we achieve success individually and as a company by giving back and doing good for others.
– Sam Tucker, Executive Vice President Mustang Cat
Mustang Cat also created a Scholarship Program in 2013. Since the Scholarship Program was established, it has awarded 132 scholarships, over $400,000, to help support children of Mustang Cat employees pursuing a two- or four-year degree, including vocational and technical schools.
Mustang Cat is committed to creating a recognizable difference for the most vulnerable people in the communities in which they operate. With a strong belief that the success of their business relies heavily on doing good in the communities they serve, their culture of servant leadership is resounding inside and outside of the company.
