Episode 16 - "Generations of GSE Excellence": A Conversation with Brad and Pete Compton - The GSE Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Matthew Weitzel (00:07):
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(00:30):
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Brad Compton (00:56):
This is Brad Compton.

This is Luke brown. This is Jeff Barrett.
This is Tesla fasten and you'relistening to the GSE podcast.
All right, we're here with aspecial edition of the GSE
Podcast. I'm with Brad Comptonand Pete Compton. Brad Compton
is the VP of global sales forTextron GSE. And Pete Compton is

(01:17):
retired.

Pete Compton (01:18):
well traveled.

well traveled.

Thanks for having me back, Matt.

Oh, not a problem.

It seems like yesterday we did this. Yeah. And
that was that was the beginning.
That was the beginning. And Iasked you if you had a good
intro song, and you nailed it.
You've got a good intro song.

Do you like the intro song?

That was episode one? And what are what's this
one?

So this will be somewhere around episode 19 or
20. I think you got

a lot under under the wraps. That's good. They're
fantastic. Listen to Oh,

thanks. I've been very busy traveling around
the country, you know, doing theGSE podcast, and today we're in
Apalachicola, Florida spellthat. I could not actually every
time I had to google it tofigure out where I was going. I
always messed up the spelling ofthat. Pete, do you have that? I

know. I wanted to keep it under the wraps, because
I don't want people to figurethis place out. It's a it's a
gym. Oh, it's

a very sleepy beach town. And I agree. I think
we should maybe we should eventhat part out too late. Too
late. Yeah, yeah. Well,

Pete Compton (02:14):
the flasher starts at nine o'clock. The the light
that all the lights, go toflasher at nine, that gives you
an idea of how big the town is.

Yeah, that's, it's really it's a really great
town. And I appreciate you ally'all having me up here to visit
you and do this podcast. So thereason that we're doing the
podcast today is because Iwanted to talk to, you know,
obviously, it's great that wehave two people that have been
in ground support equipment forthe better part of 50 years, two

(02:48):
generations to generations here.
And I just kind of wanted totalk to you all about how the
industry has changed, or maybeit has not changed over those
last 50 years, and kind of getyour get your opinions. And,
Pete, where did you work whenyou were in ground support
equipment before yourretirement? Well, I

Unknown (03:05):
started with United Airlines in San Francisco at
their maintenance engineeringbase. And I was involved in
planning and purchasing and gotinvolved with the ground support
equipment. We were experimentingwith different types of
containers. And then I got toknow a lot of people at FMC down

(03:29):
in San Jose. They were makingthe loaders for the wide body
jets, which were just cominginto service. And I got to know
the folks there. And in theirenvironment, they were being
asked to leave San Jose, becausethe Bradley fighting vehicle was

(03:49):
also manufactured in San Jose,and they received a huge order
in one day while I was out inthe plant. And here comes a tank
right down the floor. And I hadjust started with him. And the
manager said we're moving toFlorida. We've built a new
building, and I said Oh, wellthat would have been good to

(04:13):
know when I hired. So I becameone of the folks that moved to
Florida to start the newmanufacturing plant in Orlando.
So that was my start with GSCequipment.

This was way before the fax machine is Oh
this was even prior to the faxthat might have been before the
fax machine.

You weren't getting the POS via the fax
machine quite yet.

No hand delivered.
hand deliver. Yeah.

So So you took your family and moved them from
California to Orlando, Floridaand was FMC started at 7300
President's drive is that yeah,

Unknown (04:47):
they built a new factory. And when we started in
82 My first day on the job waswith six people in the middle of
a floor on a card table andThat's how it started was six
people. Most of the folks thatSan Jose remain there? And my

(05:07):
hire was the fact that I wouldmove to Florida. Take over some
of the marketingresponsibilities. Okay, so

they that point you're in marketing. Right?
Right. Oh, all right. And thenthen you got into sales after
that. Right. Right. That's kindof what I did. Brian. Oh, it's

hard to do. That is the stepping stone. Right.
That's right. I was excitedbecause I was right by wet and
wild. Right. Well, yeah,exactly.

Yeah. And did they have fun spot then?

I don't even know.
I knew wet and wild that I hadto. I was the guy I had to pick
up out of California. But Istill brought my skateboard and
just had to trade it in for asurfboard in your van at least.
I still wear the vans I guessfor the fans now. Yes, coast to
coast, but a little bit ofculture shock, but it was a
great move along move. I wasn'tquite thinking of GSE then I was
thinking of other things.

(05:56):
Anyway, so

was when you move there, were you going to
the factory and things like thatto visit your dad.

Yeah, yeah, I remember that factory like
yesterday. And I would love toget back in there. I think it's
the same setup. But yeah, like Isaid, we would go down there as
kids and get ready for that wetand wild trip as he's trying to
sell stuff around the world.

So by the time that you by the time you're
retired, you are what like VP ofsales at FMC. No,

Unknown (06:23):
no, I had several different companies throughout
my career and I ended up as vicepresident and general manager of
a small manufacturing company.
Oh, in Livonia, Michigan, wewere making aircraft cargo
systems. So I had gone from GSEto containers to the system in
the airplane. Okay, that's whenthey were converting a lot of

(06:46):
wide body aircraft, intofreighters for UPS, FedEx. DHL,
DHL.

Yeah, I would walk into the building, I think I was
on a different floor for GSC. Aswith tug, and he when we crossed
paths for about two years, maybehe was up a couple of notches on
the on the building floor, butyou know, same customers, and
their names. were changed. Yeah,I wish I just saved all those
business cards. He would lay onthe counter kitchen counter back
in Orlando when he was callingon the same guys. I started

(07:18):
calling on Yeah, when I jumpedinto the circus. There was a few
but yeah, they there was a fewstill left.

So when you got started in the industry, Brad,
were there people go? And nowyou are you Pete's kid? Oh,

yeah, that's how I met. Yeah, I think there were
still a few left that we'd makea call. And it was lucky. I was
lucky enough to have thatconnection for some accounts.
But yeah, from United Airlinesto Air Canada to FedEx you would
you cross paths?

Yeah. Did anybody say well, Pete's better
this than you are?

They did? I won't name but the guy. That
distributor that would it wasJacob would continuously yell
and scream like he always doesfor the right reasons. And he
said, You are not your father.
I'll take that. And don't hangup on you now. But yeah,

there's there was some that would remember
that guy. That was Yeah, Israel,right. He had he had a great

relationship with Jacob. And there was then there
was some where you were Yeah,the connection was made. And he
would say, Okay, well tell me astory go well, no, I can't do
that. In my back pocket. But Iknow there's a lot of stories
out there. So yes. And thosewere the Those were the good
ones to talk to, because theywould kind of tell you how it
was back in the day. And then,like we said earlier, same crap,
different decade, same stuff.
Yeah,

that's what we're about to get into. So I
think Brad was telling me lastnight, we all went out to dinner
last night. And it was eitheryou or Brad was telling me that
you were working with electricequipment back in what the 80s.

Unknown (08:39):
Oh, yeah, that was our main thrusts we knew we had to
improve the aircraft loaders,the belt loaders. And we weren't
in the business of the tractors.
But we focused on a belt loader,that took a lot of resources.
And we learned a tremendousamount. And we thought it was

(09:00):
very simple to put an electricvehicle on the ramp, because
it's intermittent use, which isperfect. But what we didn't know
is the workers when they're notworking with get on the
equipment drive around theairport. Oh, now the belt loader
instead of using a couple ofmiles a day was putting 20 and

(09:21):
30 on. So it was a learningexperience. And we worked hard
to make it successful. Did

you go from from internal combustion to electric
or just launched the electricthe electric boat loader from
scratch? Did you call that thebanana belt? Or is that just
know that industries tend tocall because he had that? Yeah,
that curve in the belt right?

Unknown (09:45):
That was to achieve the rear loading compartment on 747
which is the highest belt loaderthat our highest door you have
to reach. And so if a beltloader was crate, like most, the
product would get to the top andfall into the compartment. So we

(10:08):
bent the belt. So it would havea softer approach to the door.
And it would be like atraditional loading. So but it
did catch the name banana belt.

So I have to throw this in here. My goal, when I
took over the Air Canadaaccount, which I still manage, I
think last year, I finally gotto the point where it was 100%
talked about litres in theirfleet. So I was very proud about
that fact, it was a team effortby all but the gentleman I was
dealing with a better candidatekept calling me every year and

(10:41):
said you've got about 20% to gobecause my challenge was to kick
out all the belt loaders my dadsold into Air Canada. And I
think the last banana belt washanging around Montreal. So I
said take that thing in the St.
Lawrence River. And let's moveon to Tucker. That's right. We
made the transition. So props totug on that one. Yeah. And

that was an all electric felt loader.

Unknown (11:01):
Yeah, Canada passed a law that working in lower deck
compartments could not beexposed to fumes from internal
combustion engine. And that'swhat drove the belt loader for
Air Canada.

Oh, I think that's a big one. Now, when we talk
about sustainability, that's abig one where the fumes will
come up into that, thatcompartment. So that's, that's
one of the sales pitches youtalk about.

So were you selling 660 Ease then into Air
Canada? Yes.

Yes. Yeah, Montreal was a big focus for
electrics along with their otheroperations on the west coast as
well. But yeah, we had a bigpush in there to to continue on
with the 660 than the 660, ie,the lead acid now we're
converting those into lithium.
So now now they're looking intothe kits, right? You take your
internal combustion and you dropin a kit, which I know is huge
in the industry. But do

you think you'll have a kit for this for
the six months? Yeah.

Okay, we do now.
And again, I just wanted to kickout all those banana bells to
say yeah, yeah, that was thatlast one. That was stamp P
commented on this now, Bradcompetence. That's the way we
work.

Yeah, I didn't realize that. I knew that a
bunch of companies were comingout with these conversion kits
for like the AMA, but I didn'tknow that the 660 was going to
be able to be converted

to belt loaders easier, right? You got a lot
more room to Yeah, you're notyou're not restricted with the
space that you have for theengine. So you got a little more
flexibility on the belt loader.
But I think the belt loadercaught momentum, as well as
attractors for electrificationpretty quick. Yeah,

it's pretty crazy that you know, all we talk
about now is electric. And itsounds like they were talking
about electric. What What yearwas that? They 280 82 Magnum P I
was still on? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Don Johnson.

No, wrong one wrong boy. Yeah, yeah. Sorry.

I was thinking to my advice. I'll tell you at
the end of this podcast is apie. Yeah. Okay. I don't know
Magnum. P. All right. Sorry.
That was my advice to you tolater. Yeah,

that was a good one. Okay. Yeah. All right. You
know, we're not Tom Selleck andTom Selleck.

Oh, yeah, too.
Oh, I'm thinking stash. Yeah,that's your main crush.

I forgot about that is top 10. Yeah. Yeah, the
belt loader. I mean, I have apicture of dad with that hanging
out on my belt loader on theramp. So

yeah, we'll put that we'll put that picture up.
If you don't mind. We'll putthat link in the show notes. So
that we can see that

down in Orlando.
That was a big move, big movefor the family. But it turned
out pretty good. So

were you able to introduce Brad into the
industry? So is that how you gotinto? I know you're in copiers.
And then we're How did you getyour start though? In GSE? Was
it was Pete a big part of Yeah,huge.

But no, I'll kick it off with Yeah, I threw myself
into sales in Atlanta, you know,pounding the pavement, knocking
on doors. And then I got to apoint I was like, I gotta make a
move. This is frustrating. Andhe had the relationship in the
industry with the folks at tug.
I know, there's lots of storiesabout your poker parties at the
airport. But he made therelationship with the guys at
tug. And he said, go see him. Gohave breakfast with them. See

(13:50):
what happens? It took a littlewhile. But it didn't happen.
Yeah. So that was theconnection. And like I said, I
wish I kept all those businesscards he would throw on the
kitchen counter, because thatwould have helped. But yeah,
that would have opened the door.
And then I you know, I had thatthat that bat phone I would I
would break the glass and callthem and say how do you get
through this type of situation?
Yeah. And like you said earlier,same crap, different decade is
the same type of situation, sametype of outcomes, you have to

(14:13):
work towards getting in and thatwas it. But yeah, I was lucky to
have him on the other side ofthe phone for a lot of those
deals. I would

like to hear the UPS story. Now. I don't know
how much you've listened to theGSE podcast. We always have to
everybody has to tell story whenthey come on the GSE podcast and
you're telling me a story lastnight about ups and kind of
their beginnings and how theycouldn't even write POS. So
that's

Unknown (14:37):
true. I made a first trip from Orlando up to
Greenwich, Connecticut, wherethey were just forming their air
group. And up to that point,they had leased everything. And
I didn't know why I was goingup. They just invited me up. So
we met the folks there. Went tolunch and then And after lunch,

(15:00):
I was starting to look at mywatch, then I gotta get back to
New York and catch a plane. Hesays we'll sit down, we want to
buy. And I believe it was fivemain deck loaders for the main
deck of the 747. And at thattime, I think they were going
for just under 850, a loader byand I was I was trying to get it

as dollars or euros. Yeah, that's not pesos.
And

Unknown (15:34):
so I tried to be calm, and we talked about them, how
they operate, how fast we couldmake them. And I think we had to
in production. So he said, Okay,we'll buy the five. I said,
That's great. Yeah. So I tookoff happy as a clam and high
tide. And I'm going down theHutchison expressway back to New

(15:57):
York. And it dawns on me, Idon't have a Pio. He just shook
my hand and said, We're going tobuy him at work. So I pulled
over to Bank of phones. And Icalled my boss and said, I said,
we just made a major score,because at that point, we hadn't

(16:18):
sold hardly anything now out ofFlorida. And so I told him, then
at that conversation, I realizedI didn't have to. Yeah. So I
hung up, call them back. Andthey were almost in shock. They
said, You need to tell me, wehave to write a Pio. I said,

(16:39):
Absolutely. I said, I can't makea factory commitment of that
value without a purchase order.
He says what gets pencil out,and he rattled off a number. I
wrote it down, called my bosssaid, here's the number. So I
head back next day at the plant.
He says, Where's the paper to?
So I call him back and sayyou're going to issue a paper

(17:04):
fee? Oh, he said, I don't thinkwe know how to do that. We
haven't been involved in buying.
That's where you make your own.
Yeah, exactly. So we puteverything
into production, and kept from arevise and delivery unit. And I
thought, How in the heck am Igoing to invoice that? Yeah, I

(17:25):
did. I sent him a standardinvoice and they paid it right
away. And so my biggest orderever didn't have a Pio. It was
turned out to be his socialsecurity number.

There was a paid right away.

Yes. And they had to pay right away. You had
this guy's social securitynumber, you know, their x, y,
you know what these guys goingto do with this thing? If we
don't pay? No, that

Unknown (17:52):
was the beginning of a great relationship. Yeah. And as
I change companies, I think mylast sale to them was the M D
elevens. They converted tofreighter, and we supplied the
cargo system. And UPS invited meto Louisville to be part of the

(18:13):
party, that when the first MD 11flew in to start service with
UPS. So that was really quite acompliment over the years. Yeah.

And that's a good partnership. Yeah.

Yeah. And then Brad, you sell to UPS now?

I do. Yeah. I mean, I gotta get POS, we both
do get pos 100% more structured.
But yeah, UPS is still strong,and that they want us to
succeed. They're always a goodpartner within the industry. I
think they shine really wellalong with their competition in
Memphis, and up in Cincinnati.
But yeah, that's where a lot ofour paths have crossed within
the cargo segment. And that'salways in a growth mode. So we

(18:51):
enjoyed working with thosecompanies. And still do

we did you work with FedEx as well? Oh,

Unknown (18:57):
yes. In fact, we sold them quite a few cargo systems,
and then they had their fleet ofAirbus. And then they were
converting other aircraft, DC10s of our MD elevens. And we
had enough business that wecould put a small repair shop in

(19:17):
Memphis, so we could startrepairing recycleables for them,
and actually fleet and repairfew tractors of brands that have
some and couldn't handle it andjust send it or fix it and get
it back to us. So that was a bigmove for a little company to put

(19:39):
a repair station in theEnforcer. And that was our first
one.

Is your decal up at vanners Oh, yeah.

Unknown (19:47):
We had to purchase a Ford van. And now you see
decals. The rat cover the wholevan. Yep. That had never been
done. So one of our fellasfigured out how we could make
the side of the van look like anairplane with the wing, the

(20:09):
windows. And that van driversdoor was looking like a cockpit.
And then in the back of the van,and the two doors that open, we
made it look like the inside ofan airplane with of course our
cargo system. Yeah. So thecorporate said it was like six

(20:32):
grand. And they said don't doit. Well, I went ahead and did
it anyway. Next month on ourcompany, magazine, we were on
the cover.

And they said, Good job,

Unknown (20:47):
you have a job. And of course, every time our
competition would come to visitFedEx, I park it right in the
number one spot in the visitorsarea. I never missed a trip.
They tell me they're coming inand I park this airplane van.
Right. Yeah.

So yeah, Memphis is a good place to be. They're
so active. But yeah, I mean, Iwould call I would call dad's
Hey, man, I'm off to thiscountry or this city. And he
would be quick to tell a storyabout that city, that country or
that person who you're about tovisit. So that overlap again. Is
was was awesome.

That's a fantastic story. Yeah, I
actually, Brad, let me call onFedEx. When I did it, it was a
mistake. I know. Right? Yeah.
No, it was.

No, it was good.
That's good. That's that youknow, those those accounts?
You've talked about FedEx or UPSare very large airline, take
your pick. Those are those are,you could cut your teeth in
there and learn a lot. So if youjust did a lot from that, and
I'm sure I just throw you in thedeep end. I didn't even tell you
where the hub was. But you'veyou figured it out. Right? Yeah,

yeah, it was.
It was actually an amazingexperience. Yeah, I got to meet
a lot of good a lot of goodfolks. I still talk to today.
Yeah, from there

and touch a lot of different organizations within
the company. So you gotpurchasing and then you got
logistics. GSEs. So it's kind ofa inless hole there. But yeah,
it's those are good ones tostart with.

So when you were at FMC, did they have, de
ICERs? Or was that later on? No,

Unknown (22:14):
no, they had de ICERs they had the three wheel de ICER
three wheel. Yeah, no. Okay.
That was developed. We'll bringthat back before I got there.

Cost savings

for the wheel.
It

Unknown (22:29):
pretty much ended when we moved to Florida. But the TM
1800 was de ICER choice and alot of stories selling those
interior aspirants I enjoyed deICERs it was involved a lot of
people, you know, the driver,the sprayer, the maintenance

(22:50):
people, and it was a successfulunit still around.

Let's go back to Air Canada. You tell the story
about loading it up on a on aflatbed. And I think Mom was
nervous sack because you had todrive that sucker all the way up
to Canada. Oh, and you got therefor a demo? No,

Unknown (23:06):
that? Yeah. When we first made the belt loader
available knew it worked. Werented one of the flatbeds that
tilt the back. Gotcha. And wecould put it on the flatbed
straightened it out. And we hadwhat they called a hotshot,
which was a tractor that smallerthan your over the road, full

(23:29):
tractors. And so each salesmanhad a couple of days of driving
around customer to customer todemonstrate it. Wow.

That's the way to

go. And that still works today. Here's the road.
Yeah, to do it. Yeah. But here'sthe story. You have to know how
to drive a stick shift, though.
Oh, yeah,

that's well, then I'm out. Yeah, you're out?
Yeah, we

Unknown (23:50):
had a number of people that corporate set to us, which
were recent graduate MBA, hotshots. These guys were in a
training program to be inmarketing, sales, production,
and they'd move on or getelevated right there at FMC. So
three of them. were assigned totake it out first. And I

(24:14):
remember as clear as day, theyall came to my office with their
heads down. And they had toadmit, they had never driven a
gear shift car ever. Yeah. Andso we took him out to the
parking lot, and had to trainthem on how to drive clutched

(24:36):
vehicles. And so the day wehooked it up and set it up to
New York. He killed the enginetwice. The part that would be
me. Yeah. So when I got let'ssee, I was driving it up

to Toronto.
Orlando to Toronto.

Unknown (24:53):
That's no I come from Denver. I was all across
countries.

Yeah, we were making a loop. Okay. Same as my
basketball game that week.

Unknown (25:01):
Yeah. The I remember we get to the border. And that was
the week the Pope was visitingToronto. So they stopped all
trucking. And I'm driving downthe road. Now I'm not so hot
with this thing. Okay, and thetruck. Sorry, the trucks were

(25:22):
pulling into a parking lot. AndI didn't know you had to really
go wide to turn a trailer. Andwe had a large overhang on the
back of the trailer. And as Iturned in all trucks for being
stopped. I clipped another truckthat was parked, took out his

(25:44):
fender and headlight. I heardthe noise drove down to the end
of the line, and I was able toback my vehicle in, then I
thought I better walk up thereand see what's going on. And
there were like 10 or 12truckers, and you can imagine
what they looked like big burlyguys with hats on, you know,

(26:07):
Volvo, Rio, and they were theylooked like there was going to
be a fight. And I just walked upto the guy that I hit. I said,
Oh, man, I'm sorry. And the guystarted, what the heck were you
do? And I said, Well, I'm not atrucker. I'm just a little sales

(26:30):
guy, that I didn't know how toturn it. And when I admitted I
didn't know what I was doing,and they all said all that's
alright, that's fine. Give us weunderstand, you better have your
insurance. So we settled with aright on the spot. And that's
not quite the end of the story.
The next day, we get to theairport. And they're directly

(26:50):
out to the GSE shop, which isnext row parallel runway, and
it's raining. And I get there,jump out of the truck and they
come out. Oh, no, no, you can'tpark here. Take it around the
back of the shop. Well, now Iknow how to turn it. And it's
wide. So I go the parallel roadturn behind the shop wide. And I

(27:14):
end up in mushy grass. And partof the trailer extended over the
runway.

I know you're in the runway at this point. The
back of the trailer is nowthat's probably not cool. Oh,
the runway. Yeah. Yeah. I don'tlike that. They don't like that
at all. Yeah,

Unknown (27:36):
all the lights and things came flashing at once. We
did get it turned around. But Igot yelled at for another hour.
Right there. I thought thisisn't going we get

yelled at by the truckers and then the airport
authority. Yeah, you gotprobably got yelled at by the
customer because the thingworked, or

Unknown (27:55):
actually not the guy that ran the shop. He said, Look
at this guy. He's out in therain. And he got some points.
Yeah, yeah, got points forunloading the belt loader in the
rain. So anyway, we weresuccessful, but it was a
torturous trip. Yep.

That's what happens. GSE I remember we had
Brad told me he said a couplethings. You know, when I first
started, number one was neversend FedEx any documents via
UPS? Oh, no. You the hard way.
Yeah. So that was that was thatwas good rule right here that
the FedEx account

Unknown (28:33):
goes further than that.
Okay, I told Brad, one of thefirst things on your sales
trips, if you're going to FedExor delta have a delta ticket

envelope. Well, that's where he was going. Yeah,
I've

Unknown (28:50):
many times have changed tickets into the right envelope.
Because

they'll make a reservation for you. Yeah. So.
So that's where that's where Istarted was going. So what Brad
didn't tell me what was was thatlittle piece of advice that you
would told him and so Brad and Iwent up to visit JetBlue. And
JetBlue said, Hey, when did youget in? Yes. Like, oh, you know,
the three o'clock flight fromOrlando. And I said, Yeah, I

(29:18):
think we don't have a threeo'clock. And I was like, Oh, no.
I

learned to and I didn't take his advice. Or maybe
I wasn't listening because oneof the crossover accounts and
this'll date me is my first oneof the first was TWA. So I flew
into Kansas City. I think youknew the head engineer. So I had
a little bit in you know, theysay hello, but yeah, the
gentleman I was Yeah, the oneguy was and that was like
walking back in time and thatthat facility after we had

(29:47):
lunch, he said, Oh, you know,thanks for coming out and hope
you enjoyed your flight saidgreat. Well, thank you. He goes
well next time why don't yougive us a try and fly TWA. Okay,
I'll do that. So let's andlearned Yeah, you Yeah, you you
can't forget the small stuff.
And so yeah, that's kind of thegolden rule. And everyone needs
to know that when they'regetting started in this
industry. Yep. Good one.

That's yeah. So

that's in the book when we start writing Chapter
Two that needs to go in there.
Yeah, forgot about that. Thatwas the Jet Blue for you. Yeah,

that was a that was a juggling act. I was coming
from Atlanta. That's the reasonI was flying Delta. Not Orlando.
I messed up my story. Just just

just a hair.
You're doing fantastic. WithJetBlue? They'll still still let
you in the door. Oh, yeah.

They'll still let me in the door. They forgive
they give they forgive you once.
You know. And then after that,you gotta you always got to make
the right decisions. Exactly. Sowhat kind of changes? Did you
see over the the years that youwere within the ground support
equipment industry? Or? Or did?
Or was there none at all?

We were but you can't have a martini at lunch
anymore? Oh, yeah, that's,that's done.

Yeah, there was

a piano bars and 747. There

Unknown (30:52):
were a lot of stories.
Yep. Basically, I think thatthings that changed was the
advent of the computer, it wasjust starting, when I entered
the sales field. And I canremember it go call on somebody,
and purchasing and they canhardly talk to you, because

(31:13):
they're flipping through thatbig ream of paper, looking for
data. So they needed you as anexpert, to help them through a
technical buy. And then airlinesstarted involving their
engineering in those decisions,which changed a lot of things
because now you're sellingpurchasing, management and

(31:33):
engineering. And in my view,engineering had a big pole in
the development of the equipmentand the purchase decision. Then
as time went on, with the adventof the cell phone, don't

forget the pager.

Unknown (31:50):
The pager first, I was good, but you couldn't get an
appointment? You know, they saytext me send it, send me an
email, I don't have time to seeyou. And I said, Well, how am I
going to convince you that oursis the one you'll want to buy.
And these were to me untrainedpurchasing agents that during

(32:13):
the time they were sucking innew employees, and for about
five years, it was verydifficult to see anyone are on a
first appointment. So we startedgoing in through engineering,
and that upsets a lot of peoplesometimes Yeah, but the way you
sell ground equipment,demonstrations, engineering,

(32:37):
then purchasing. And the otherway around, it used to be
purchasing first, they wouldn'tlet you in the door. So I told
all of our people, I said theimportant thing is to make
friends first, get arelationship going a technical
relationship. So they can dependon you to keep them advised of

(33:02):
changes, new products, and thenthe orders will come. And that's
the way it was all the waythrough my career.

You know, so we got to be face to face, right?
It's an old saying you can't seeeye to eye face

Unknown (33:17):
to face respect. See, if you want to see if you have a
face to face.

And I think that's still true in the industry.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, on bothsides with our customers, and
then the suppliers out there,they try real hard, and they
want to keep it going. Becausethat's the way you do tackle
problems. And you you find outopportunities. So I think that's
still true.

But I mean, it's amazing now, right? So if I
have a have a customer that Iwant to go see, you make the
phone call, and then you'reyou're texting and you're
sending calendar invites. Soit's in their calendar, and then
you know, you text them when youget to their office, and hey,
can you let me in all thisstuff? I mean, how did it work
with with you? Or it's justlike, you get into New York to

(33:54):
go see somebody in the column ona payphone? Or do you just show
up the office and just hope toGod that they left it on their
calendar? I mean, we have somany points of contacts that you
know that we can just talk tothem at any time. But back then
it was there the days ofsilence, I'm sure from your
customers. Yeah, I

Unknown (34:11):
used to tell Brad, what you really need to know in your
territory is where the phoneswere. Yeah. Where's the phone
bank? You don't? Yeah, the besthotels that have the quietest
phone booths are on the on themain freeways where the phones.
I remember we got an order fromMcDonnell Douglas out in Long

(34:35):
Beach. And I had rented a carthat had one of the first mobile
phones and it was on anextension that brought it up
almost to your face out on thefloor, and you could dial on the
phone. And so I'm driving backto the airport and we just

(34:56):
gotten an MD 11 Order and Itried dialing this On your had a
wreck. Because I was focused ongetting the word out that we had
a nice order.

Yeah. And you got the PIO this time, I'm sure.
Yeah, I had as a favor. Anyway,I think that what and even even
we've probably deal with thisnow the time from your gathering
information because of a requesthappens so fast be these bids,
but you got to think you know,2530 years ago how slow that
process would have been wherethey're mailing you that request

(35:29):
for information, then you mailthem something back. I mean,
that would be slow process.
Maybe you didn't think about itback then. But now everything is
so fast. Yeah.

I mean, what were lead times like, back then?

Unknown (35:42):
It was it got worse as this. No, I'm talking about the
cargo seal on the airplane.

Oh, okay. The cargo. Oh, I was thinking more
like cargo loaders. SMC time,you know,

Unknown (35:55):
FMC, we did a good job in those days of forecasting.
Yeah. And we did it to keep theline moving. Okay. And so we
pretty well could forecast andget it right.

Would you build without POS? Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Unknown (36:13):
Not a lot. But if we didn't have a Pio by the time it
got to paint, we were introuble. Yeah. But we never
parked too many of those. Wealways had customers. And de
ICERs to me were the mostdifficult because we had to
commit to the truck chassis.
Those aren't Yeah, years inadvance. And then at the same

(36:36):
time, start working on themechanicals that go with it. And
so we tried to book that upbefore the season. And it was
always difficult, Ford would belate with the chasis. So that
was our biggest managementproblems getting the de ICERs
ready to go.

Those are the I mean, that's heavy, heavy
equipment and a lot of steel. Wedeal with that too. On all we
call our Bae bills. So the pushbacks, it's very similar to what
I'm sure JBT then then FMC hasto deal with it's this the
forecasting and now a lot on theinventory. That's a big heavy
stuff. You got to store andanticipate the orders. And the
challenge, you got to keep thatline moving, or else if you shut

(37:17):
that thing down. It's that's nota good thing.

Unknown (37:19):
Yeah. Forecasting was probably the most difficult part
of our job in either cargosystems, ground equipment or
containers. Yeah, that was whereall the difficult issues and
sometimes eat the bear sometimesthe buried shoe. That's how that
goes. That's

forecasting. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you could
it's crystal ball, right?
Embrace that break. Sometimesyou're the smartest

Unknown (37:46):
guy in the company, you get it wrong. And you better
know where the door is that

how is safe arrow and Premiere doing these
days? It's

good. It's good.
You know, you learned thatweather is a big part of that,
globally. That's true. But yeah,we've transitioned the premiere
down to Georgia. So from aTextron standpoint, Textron is
very, very good at it, puttingthe factories together, like we
have a new factory inCartersville. And so their
support was was making thathappen. 100% and then say Pharos
is doing well, that's a veryinnovative product, that now a

(38:19):
lot of people get a taste of. Sowe continue to promote that
globally, doing a lot of work inNorth America to kind of get
that reach go and we'll sayPharaoh, but we're in a good
spot, because we have those twodifferent types of products,
which I just say the open bucketversus the very innovative one
man drive. So the ice iscomplicated. There's a you know,
it doesn't happen overnight tointroduce a new vehicle into a

(38:41):
company that has a lot of theother brands is not easy, but
we're working on it. It's it'sfun.

It's safe arrows here in the US right now.

They do not in Apalachicola, Florida. No, no,
no, no down here,

unless you're just spraying people on the
beach. But we do. Do you haveany in stock and inventory right
now? We

do we have units in stock here. And we do that in
anticipation of the season. Andwe also have a lot of customers
now with that growth mode inNorth America. Not as many as we
want. But we're making progress.
Now those more for Pat de icing.
That's yeah, I'm glad youbrought that up. They work it's
like a ballet they work verywell when you have to on a pad
but not to say they can't workat a gate. But they they they do

(39:20):
their magic on a pad. So we'remaking some good progress

globally. And then the premiere. So how's that
transition been bringing it downin Cartersville, I finally got
to go to Cartersville. And itwas a great, great facility

clean sheet of paper like what Dan was saying
when he when he moved toOrlando, it was what is fearful
for a sales guy that'sresponsible for feeding the
baby. And that is the factorywhen you walk in and nothing's
in there. Like man, this is big.
And we got to get some productin here. And this was coming out
of COVID. Yeah, but again,Textron believed in it, they
said we're going to invest we'regoing to continue to invest
because the customers they'rewaiting. So yeah, we've got the

(39:53):
premier down there. It's a greatfactory. All lines are humming
right now. We've Got greatleadership in the production
side of the house and supplychain side of the house, which
is now back, I think always astruggle in this industry. But
yeah, we're going strong. So wehave the Cartersville factory,
which includes premiere. Andthen we have, say, Pharaoh in
Sweden, which has that product.

Is there anything like new innovation or
anything going on from the lasttime that we spoke like that you
want to kind of? Well, it's

all about electrification. So you've got a
pretty advanced and disciplinedroadmap. And so Brian Yoder, as
you know, is always working onsomething new. So our goal is to
have new product every year toshowcase at the at the industry
show, I'll just say it's allabout electrification. Right?
Now, we're going to keepcontinuing on that path for for
the bigger, bigger products.
Okay, now is the so the Alphaones out there. Now the Alpha

(40:44):
One is out there. And that'sthat's doing well took a little
bit, but it's doing very well.
Okay. And then is that acomplete replacement for the GT?
We are not going to sunset, theGT 35. So the best way to think
about this as the GT 35, whichis a well known product in the
industry will stay as our dieseloffering lots of orders backlog.
The Alpha One is the innovativebrother sister to that what you

(41:06):
have a gas engine and you have alithium battery option for that
pushback, okay? And what's coolabout it is once you get it out
in the field, and you need tokick it off with gas and one
station, and that station has aforecast to go all electric and
they're getting pushed by theairport or other groups, you can
take that engine out and we canpop in the lithium battery. Like
it sounds super easy. I'm sureit's a little more technical

(41:27):
than that. But more than moretechnical than plopping. Yes.
I'm not gonna plop I'll justpoint fingers. Have someone else
plop? Okay, yeah, so I won'teven drive the truck. I'll just,
I'll just say he's got to gofrom here to there. Yeah, yeah.

So Exede has Alpha ones, alpha fours. Yeah,
we're buying stuff from Textronright now. And it's really

cool. I mean, just the ergonomics, right, if you
look at the picture that dadhas, from 82, you sit on the
airport, this, you can just geta feel for the ergonomics of GSE
overall. And now, there's somuch time in thought put into
the ergonomics of the tractors,the push backs, the belt
loaders, and the awful ones aprime example of that, how the
the steering center steering,the visual, you got to have, you

(42:08):
got to be able to see out ofthese things. So safety. And the
ergonomics are key to everylaunch that we put out now.
Yeah, and

I needed to thank you for for the ghci
annual conference on stage witheverybody always talking about
the future of GSE. And I thinkthat, you know, one of the ways
that it has changed, you know,GSE has changed since since
Pete's time in the industry isergonomics, and the way that it
does it the way that it doeslook, I mean, it does look
different. I mean, not a tondifferent, you know, time to

(42:40):
time, but it does lookdifferent. There's a

lot when I say safety, and then the ergonomics
that kind of come hand in hand,because safety is not a
competition, we just got to havethe industry focused on that.
But you know, you just you'vegot to either point A to point
B, if you're pulling bags, orpushing back an airplane, just
get the job done first and theold product still get the job
done. It's just we're advancingthat the field that could help
with safety, and just have thosedrivers relaxed and feel a

(43:05):
little more secure in thevehicles. Yeah,

so Exede has done a really good job of were
buying electric equipment.
That's great. You guys areproactive. Yeah, yeah. So so
people can come to us and tryout that electric equipment. And
if they have gates that areopening that that need electric,
we have that. So we're buying itin from Textron, we have an
endurance. We love that. Yes,that's exciting. Yeah. So the
endurance is a new new electricbag, tractor offering.

That's the high voltage with the GM
partnerships. And so we'reexcited about that. We think
that's the future is that typeof voltage, and we're
disciplined enough to keep inthat same path and is going to
is going to happen, it's goingto be a great product,

it has a 660 e changed at all, or is that is
there like the new developmentgoing on with that? Or is that
basically the same offeringyou've had for a while, I mean,
people love that product.

They love the product. And it's it's the same
footprint, but I'll tell youwhat, we've advanced it with the
lithium technology, and again,all the safety features we put
into that and that and we'reprobably in the same category
with our others in the industry.
But that transmission now that'selectronic gives you so much
more options available to helpthat belt loader, kind of take
that next step into safetyfeatures. Creep modes, collision

(44:16):
avoidance, when you get in closeto an airplane, whether it's
container loader or belt loaderor catering truck, that's when
people get a little nervous andso that that helps advance that
product. So the 660 is going tocontinue on and that's a full
line for us. We are in a goodspot or Yeah, the production
team is understanding how tobuild that build that better the

(44:36):
option book for a boatloadprobably the same back in the
80s it's it's it's thick,there's finance heavy, it's a
heavy option boat. And that'sthe world we live in. We don't
mind that. It's just we got tobe very disciplined on how we
approach it with our customers.

Unknown (44:51):
You have to forecast.
Oh, yeah,

you gotta force it. Yeah, yeah. To forecast is
that's the hard part. But yeah,the belt loader is great and we
appreciate it. Seedspartnership, we will launch more
and more product and folks likeyou on the other side that help
us inventory that and work withthe customers that don't have a
whole lot of forecastingability. And that's the ground
handlers. Yes. It's not theirfault. They just have quick
turns and we like that and youguys will help us out.

Yeah, we just had Daniel on from from unify
and he was saying the same thingwhere it's quick turns, you
know, the ground handlers needthe equipment right away and
with lead times as they are.
It's tough. Yeah.

You know, the dad could be sitting up at JFK
talking to Hudson general backin the day and you get very
excited when they're gonna goI'm gonna buy a belt loaders
from your fantastic well, I needthose two weeks. Yeah, that's
the forecasting and driving thelines, maybe pop out some some
stock. Now does Textron offertelematics? We do we have what
we have an in house that isgoing to be carried over from

(45:47):
from our golf segment. Okay.
Again, the the beauty of Textronwith their engineering focus, we
could collaborate with that andbring that into the GSE space.
We're working on that we havethat. But we also have to be
cognizant of the others outthere that have already proven
yourself on the ramp. So wewill, if you catch it in time,
we could help with these othersthat already have it, put it
into our tractors for companiesthat are already have a

(46:10):
partnership, but we are going tolaunch and continue to talk
about our in house fleetmanagement. Yeah, yeah. There's

a lot of talk around telematics these days.
And that's huge in the industry.
That's,

that's long time coming. Yeah, yeah. I've

got a telematics series of podcasts
coming out. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
We're gonna interview our friendDavid Kennedy. Okay. Yeah, he's
ready. Yeah, yeah. He was on thepodcast. He's good. Yeah, he's
been on the podcast is it justfor a brief moment before but
he's gonna come back on in we'realso interviewing a couple other
telematics companies. advies isgonna come on and talk as well.
Yeah, they're both very strongin the industry. Yeah. Yeah.
Very big players in theindustry. And then we're going

(46:44):
to have a couple of autonomouspodcasts talking about how
there's some autonomoussolutions out on the river
thought, right. Well, yeah,well, we're gonna find out
right, we're gonna we're gonnafind out what they have to
offer. So Yep. All right. Whatelse? What else we got guys?
Well,

I don't know.
Let's see. We got some morestories, don't we? Talk? And we
were talking Air Canada. Wetalked FedEx ups. I know there's
others. What was the firstinternational trip you took?
November? Did you head over toGermany?

Unknown (47:16):
Selling I think my first trip was to Israel. Alone.
Wow. Yeah. We they wereconverting some seven, four
sevens for colletta air to turnthem into Fredo

you had a good relationship with colletta.
Yeah, yeah, we did. He was rightthere. And if he could tell
those stories on this podcast ornot,

Unknown (47:38):
I don't know. But yeah, it was. We were installing a
Boeing equivalent cargo system.
They wanted the operation to beexactly like a Boeing system.
But we're about half the price.
So it made sense that we shoulddo this half

the price works. A lot

Unknown (47:58):
of times it works. It's amazing. And, and then we
develop some power units go onthe floor to pull the containers
in. And we made someimprovements. We save weight,
and the system's probably stillin service. Yeah. What so in I
was in Florida high school nowand you were challenged with

(48:20):
opening up the factory in Spain,for FMC, right, we purchase INSA
in Spain, and they had loadersthat would match the FMC loader,
they had passenger spares, whichwe thought was going to be a big
deal. Because in Europe, theydon't have that many air stairs.

(48:46):
Okay, you know, so we wanted toget in the passenger stair
business. And that was a toughone hard to transport over the
road because they're wider andhigher. Yeah, always had special
conditions. So that was astruggle for FMC with a
passenger stairs

left factory I believe is still there and real
and I'm bringing this up becausehis relationship with his call
it his counterpart in Spain,Dennis McGuire, who's very
special, very good. Theconnection you had with Dennis
open the door for me to get toknow and bring onto my team was
Guillermo Martinez, Willie,Willie. So I'm sitting next to

(49:29):
Dennis McGuire the groundhandling conference years ago
about to ask permission to talkto Willie but that all came
about because of hisrelationship with Dennis. So if
you want to do this style ofpodcasts on the other side of
the world international flavoryou sit down with Dennis, you
have some good good juicystories because they're both you
know, they do fantastic thingsout there.

Yeah heard on Sonos wonder is Eisah concha.

So was the company they

Unknown (49:55):
did mostly military drone handling. Okay and had
gotten involved and the MainDeck Loader, the lower deck
loaders. And that's what had FMCcentrist but they were good,
very good. And still are today.
They, from a marketingstandpoint in Europe, they do

(50:15):
very well.

So what was the product line at FMC during that
time that you were there? Yeah,

Unknown (50:23):
Main Deck loaders, lower deck loaders, the TM 1800.
Di sir. The LA three wheeler,but we didn't sell many of
those. We also had the line ofbaggage carts and LD three. Oh,
wow. Okay.

And in fire trucks.

Unknown (50:42):
Well, no fire truck joined us. A couple of years
later, they were out of Tipton,Indiana.

I'd like to see that option book. Yeah, no. All

Unknown (50:49):
right. Well, you could spend a day watching the
painters do the gold leaf thatgoes on the door. Oh, yeah. Fire
trucks are real fancy. And theseguys were top paid in the whole
plant. I can't remember what butthey would sit there all day and

(51:10):
pinstripe, a firetruck? And outof the factory in Orlando,
Colorado, the

fact that Orlando I'd be a tough inspection to
Yeah, yeah,

you know, your gold paint isn't as good as it
was the other day.

So the industry shows we still have We have one
in North America and one thatstill lands in Europe. But back
when you first started, I knowit's changed. You're suited up
over in Frankfurt at the time.
And did you bring all theequipment overseas as well, as
we tried to accomplish here? Thefirst show

Unknown (51:44):
we did? We brought our Main Deck Loader, which needs a
crane. Oh, take it off the truckfor sure.

I'm sure the CFO loves that

Unknown (51:52):
is what we did bring one of everything. And then
management said well, we're notshipping it back. You guys sell
it? That's

right. Sounds Oh, does. that sold me that a
couple times?

Unknown (52:04):
Yeah, they did. Tell us that. To

tell you that on the second day. Yeah. For a long
night on a boat going throughAmsterdam. Right.

So we po in a bar. Fortunately,

Unknown (52:14):
we could sell the main a we could sell them but it was

tough. Those are what is it was a similar to
today. You're kicking the showoff on a Tuesday and you're
wrapping things up on aThursday, Friday, right? Yeah.

Were you in full suits? Because now by the
way, we do not do the same aswingtips. The

Unknown (52:33):
Paris Air Show was by far the worst show to attend as
a salesman. Okay, yeah. Had tosue that. All right. It took you
a subway ride, a bus ride, andanother walk about a mile or so
to get the Lobby Day. And youhad to be there about 630 to go
set up your booth. And it washot. Every Paris Air Show was

(52:59):
sticky, hot.

What was it? The beauty is you just after the
show, you get to go back to thehotel and just hang out. You
don't have dinners or drinks oranything, right? Well, no.

Wait a minute, it just keeps going.

Unknown (53:11):
Yeah, customers live for the Paris Air Show. All
night, we walked between thethey're like ISO containers were
the big people like Boeing.
Airbus would have two storeybuildings made of aluminum. Or
they'd have a restaurant up ontop. I mean, it was big time.

(53:32):
But you walk between those thetemperature be up to about 120.
Know My and you're suited up.
Yeah. So you had to work hard,

and then followed with the big dinners doesn't
stop. Yeah, that's good. That'show it's done still today.
That's why I brought it up.
There's not a whole lot ofchange on how you approach these
these shows. In the sales cycle,it's somewhat different. But the
same,

it's amazing, because, you know, we first
started talking about this, Iwas like, there's gonna be a lot
of changes that we can talkabout, you know, that's happened
and grounds for equipment andfrom sales and delivery and all
this stuff. But it's all thesame. Yeah, yeah. And converting
to electric. I mean, it's, youknow, I mean, it's,

it might be more global. Now, there's, there's
probably more competition outthere. But I mean, I think, you
know, it's still like I said,same crap, different decade a
little bit. But yeah, we andthere's still so many more
opportunities out there. I thinkit's just going to be that much
more fun as we get into thesenext couple years in terms of
forecasting. Yeah, but yeah,it's yeah, it's been a wild

(54:33):
ride. I've been this is my 20going on my 29th year or how
many years you were doing a gigbut I

Unknown (54:39):
was born there.

He was born and was born. He was born in a
container. Yeah.

Yes. This is my 17th year yeah, you're on 29 on
29

with with Tugg and his his his buddies their tug
when he was in Orlando. Again,open that door for me. So yeah,
Dick

Baxter did so did you You know, dig back to he
briefly.

I think Cordray was his connection along with
John Keating, who was one of thelegends out there as well. I've
heard those names. Yeah, yeah.
And then and then Ben Reeves,who did a fantastic job and
still is doing a fantastic jobwas there as well. So I got
thrown into that crowd. But youknow, he saved that business
card and opened that door forme.

Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna get Ben Reeves on
the podcast, about power stuff.

Yeah, yeah. Well, so when I first did this
podcast, I made a huge mistake.
Oh, we got to the end or waslike the Academy Awards, and
we're

thankful. Okay, buddy. Yeah. Oh, I remember
that. You know, we haven't donethat. Since, by the way. I

know. And we threw out a lot of names. And I was
like, Oh, dang it. You know, I'mhere today because of the help
at the factory. But man, it'speople. It's process its
product. And what happens inbetween, there are the people
that keep us going, we're on theroad, putting those suits on and
working those long days. But Iwalked into that factory the

(55:58):
same day as Susan Toronto. And Iforgot to thank her in the team
and what these coordinators do,because my gosh, we give them
headaches daily, but she's alifesaver. And we've got Sherry
is there as well as Kim and theydo great work for us. And they
got kicked off years ago. I knowJulie Hendricks is doing the
same thing today, managing somuch for the power stow team,

(56:21):
and Nikki Hammond as well. So Ijust want a big shout out to
those guys that helped us keepus going on the road. And that's
a hard job.

I think Susan, Susan had you know, she she
taught me everything that I knowas far as the inside sales part
of the job because I sat rightnext to her. That's where you
seated me who was right next toSusan and Susan had for a
reason. Yeah, exactly. Becauseshe knows everything. Yeah.
Thing afloat. It's insane. It'sa

hard job. And then again, Sherry baby and Kim
McKinney, they do fantasticwork. And I can come around the
corner and Susan probably knowsthe answer before even ask it.
Yeah, she can read myhandwriting better than than
Aaron can. So.

And another another thing that we found out
during these podcasts iseverybody leaves ground support
equipment, they come back. SoKim is one of those as well.
Yeah, I think she left for alittle bit. She was there when I
was there. But she's come back.
Yeah, she's

doing great things. Yeah. Yeah. So it's good
to have them. And you know,sometimes they they move on, and
they'll they'll they'll move onto a different company. And
that's great. So we'd love tokeep them in there. But the
ecosystem continues on and Ijust do want to give a shout out
to Susan and the team. They do agreat job for us.

I think that's an excellent shout out. Yeah.
But yeah, I think that's allI've got for today. Is that it?
There's

so much more I know there's a ton more we could
cover. Well, last time I this Ikick this one off with coffee,
so we can go coffee to beerrather than what we did

the other way around, around and then we got
80 more minutes. So we'resitting in. Okay, so this hotel
was built in 1907. And we'resitting in an old billiards
room, right, which is afantastic place to record a GSE
podcast and it's 1042. And theythey open up the doors. People
have been coming by here allmorning, seeing if they could
get into the billiard roombecause I think we're like
famous or something like who isin there? Yeah, yeah, it's the

(58:03):
headphones. It's the headphones.
Yeah. They're like, man, theseguys. But anyway, so it opens at
18 minutes, so we only havefewer minutes anyway, before
before people come in here andstart shooting pool and bedding
and drink beers in here. So Soyeah, I just wanted to see Yeah.
Do you have anything else? Pete?
No,

Unknown (58:19):
thank you very much.
I've been retired so long. I'veforgotten most of what you're
asking about.

Well, it's the father some do affairs
oftentimes

Unknown (58:30):
I want to go back to work to rest. The retirements
can be tough.

He called us first meeting in retirement. No one
showed up. Yeah.

Unknown (58:39):
I asked my wife I said What are your objectives for
today? She almost hit me so whatare you got? You

know you've got what's the similar you got? You
got P Compton and Broadcom? Justkind of like what George H. Bush
George. Yeah, similar, right.

Kind of very similar. You're more like
George, maybe, you know, maybelike Martin and Charlie Sheen.
Is that kind of a dude, that'seven better. I think that
actually probably matches you.
Yeah,

probably little better there. But I'll stick
with the President's. Okay.
You're

a big President guy. Yeah. Yeah. You're a big
fan of that. We all we all knowthat. We've heard the dinner
conversation. Yes. Well, thank

Unknown (59:16):
you very much for having me. I've enjoyed it.
Yeah, this has

been great.
Thank you so much for coming onand making the time to do this.
Yeah,

I think good stories. I'm sure there's plenty
more. But yeah, what you'redoing is great for the industry.
I listen to them all the time.
I'm sure everyone else does. Andlike you said, you're on 20 or
what?

This comes out, I

think we'll be on 20 is fantastic. So shout out to
Xcēd. I know there's a lot ofchoices out there for podcasts.
But this is a great one. You doa fantastic job.

Oh, thanks.
Yeah, it's, you know, I learnedearly on in my marketing career
is I've always said is thatnobody reads. So you got to give
them an option. When they don'tread right. So now they can just
listen. People are willing tolisten, they just don't want to

after all they pretend to read. Yeah, the guy
they're playing that pulls outthat book. Yes. That's not
really though. Yeah, no. Allright. Well, thank

Matthew Weitzel (01:00:02):
you all so much.

Brad Compton (01:00:03):
Thank you. Enjoy Apalachicola. Yeah, yeah, man,

I will do it.
All right.

Brad Compton (01:00:08):
All right next time. Thanks, Matt. Yeah, Matt
Brad.

Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for tuningin to this episode of the GSE
podcast. We hope you found itinformative and engaging. If
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(01:00:32):
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Episode 16 - "Generations of GSE Excellence": A Conversation with Brad and Pete Compton

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 16 - "Generations of GSE Excellence": A Conversation with Brad and Pete Compton