Mark’s Messages

I first made it into a newspaper many years ago. It was an innocuous article about work we were doing at the Formica factory in North Shields, UK. It was featured in the local newspaper whose pages were covered with stories of Newcastle United’s latest failure. I remember feeling strange seeing my name and quotes in print. People like me (I’m from salt-of-the-earth County Durham mining stock) only make it into newspapers at the start of ours lives and, depending on the circumstances, at the end.

My mother thought it was great and started to keep a scrapbook. It was a long time before she troubled page two. However, as the career developed she collected articles from journals, trade magazines and the odd newspaper feature.

When the Formica CEO job came about we moved to Cincinnati. This coincided with the digital

I’ve written a version of this Mark’s Message at least four times in the last two years. On one occasion we were so excited that we accidentally sent it out and announced something that ultimately didn’t happen.

So what am I talking about? Roll of drums …………..

Pioneer is now the proud owner and operator of its entire trucking fleet. Specifically, we have exited our contract with HUB and taken the drivers and dispatchers into our business.

First, let me welcome these team members to Pioneer. Welcome back to some of you, and welcome to others. I think I speak for everyone in the business when I say we are delighted to have you join the Pioneer team.

Since taking over as CEO I’ve been steadfast in the belief that we had to put in place 6 things to allow us to be successful:

What a year. It started with selling our Civil Construction business and saying goodbye to some good friends. We had made many changes to the business in the previous 18 months and we were ready for a great 2020. And then…..

COVID has changed the world. It’s been remarkable to watch how people the world over have adapted to the pandemic. How many of us have read a menu after snapping a QR code or sat under a heater outdoors in December (or maybe not, in Arizona)?

I’ve worked with many of JLL’s businesses during the pandemic and I’m proud of them all for how they’ve coped with adversity. Maybe I’m biased, but I’d say Pioneer had one of the hardest tasks, given our daily interaction with customers, and coped the best.

We dealt with the first wave and powered through the spring and summer, postin

We’re entering the last few weeks of 2020 and you don’t need me to tell you it’s been a year like no other. I don’t think the election or the arrival of 2021 will change much, regarding the pandemic. COVID is with us for a while and we have to continue to deal with it.

One of the things, however, that has come to the fore during this time has been Trust. Many of the norms we have traditionally relied upon have been disrupted by the virus. By necessity these have been replaced by trust. You have had to trust management to have plans and resources to keep you safe. You have had to trust that your team mates wear masks and self‐isolate when they know they may have been exposed. Our customers have trusted that we will stay open and service them safely.

Trust is hard to build but incredibly valuable once you ha

It’s hard to believe that just 100 years ago woman were not allowed to vote. We celebrate today Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the adoption of the 19th amendment, which granted woman that right.

Women made up 50% of the population, had and raised our children, went to war (as nurses), worked in factories and on farms, but weren’t allowed to express their right of determination.
It’s really hard at the moment to be positive about where we are with COVID, riots, and a struggling economy. However, it’s worth looking at the big picture and realizing that humanity has made an enormous amount of progress in the last 100 years.

Nowhere is this more evident than when you examine the role woman play in the world today. In the last hundred years there have been many woman heads of state. Amongst them are