Name: Paul Masters
Title: Regional Manager
Tenure: 10 Years
Hobbies: Collecting Diecast Models, Photography, His Wife and Adopted Daughter
Bio: Paul Masters would follow his wife anywhere. When he met his wife, Julie, the two were working at the same company. It was love at first sight and both Paul and Julie knew that their lives would forever be intertwined.
Which is why, when Julie began working for GSS, it wasn’t long before Paul found himself taking a job as a heavy haul truck driver for the company as well, and still remembers his first load hauled from St. Paul, AB. Canada to Las Vegas, NV.
“I’ve been driving a truck since I was 20 years old,” Masters said. “2007 is when I got into heavy haul truck driving.
When he started working for GSS, his responsibilities included vehicle maintenance and vehicle inspections, being the shiniest truck on the road, and hauling various oversize loads, from D11’s/ heavy machinery, oil field, and coal mine related loads but mostly machine heads from Tehachapi California and Pensacola Florida to various wind farms across the country.
It’s a job that Masters has loved for a long time and it’s one that he takes great pride in.
“I love being the biggest truck on the road,” Masters laughed. “That’s always cool. A lot of people are enamored by oversized loads. They want to get a closer look at it. “I pride myself on having a well polished truck” . Nothing’s better than to have a clean truck driving down the road, a clean truck and trailer. It’s pretty neat.”
Masters had a lot of pride for his truck, and for his job. But when he transferred from GSS to TP&L, he hung up his keys and became the Southern Regional Manager for the company. With that position, Masters oversees the day-to-day operations of several different yards, from Kansas to Oklahoma, Phoenix City, Alabama, and more. Luckily, he still gets to travel. He still gets to experience the thrill of the open road, and feels its a safer option than flying cause ” I can pull over if I were to have any engine troubles, whereas you ain’t pullin over with jet engine troubles”!
The aspect of the job he thinks about most, is safety. And that’s one of the big reasons why he has remained with TP&L – they are also committed to ensuring the safety of their workers.
“They’re genuinely concerned about safety,” Masters said. “We all are. anybody in any type of leadership position. They’re genuinely concerned with safety issues. I mean, think about it; from the minute you get up in the morning and step out of the shower, you’ve got to think about safety until the minute you lay down in bed. Safety is paramount in just about everything you do, and at work for sure.”
Masters said another aspect of the job that he really appreciates is that his bosses don’t micromanage, yes there is oversight, but leave the day to day operations to managers. Transportation Partners & Logistics hire the best employees and put them in the best roles; then, they leave the rest up to them.
“In 2012, I came over to TP&L,” Masters said. “And Jim sent me to Florida to go run a crane. And I distinctly remember asking him, what if I don’t like this new job that he lined out for me? And he told me that, if I didn’t like it, he’d buy me a new truck and put him back on the road, if he wanted. But he was almost certain that I was going to like my new job with TP&L and I have. And I’m thankful to him for that. I’ll be forever grateful to Jim.”
So if he had any advice for any new potential additions to the TP&L team; if he could tell any potential hires one thing, what would it be?
“Stay the course, and the opportunities are endless.”
