Experience
and Youth
Coast’s
New President Ready to Meet Challenges
 |
- Jeffrey R.
(Jeff) Wannamaker
president,
Coast Distribution
|
Jeff
Wannamaker, the new president of Coast Distribution,
started with Coast in 1984 shortly after Tim McGuire,
Coast’s CEO, took over the reigns of leadership.
So Jeff has participated in Coast’s growth and
witnessed first hand the successes and challenges
Coast has faced over the past several years.
Responding to a question from RV News about the
challenges of being Coast president, Jeff said,
"I’m new to the job, so there is no
shortage of challenges.
"However,
I think we need to focus more on the needs of our
customers, the dealer. We need to look at what the
retail consumer needs when he visits a dealer, and
then we need to be able to try and provide that to
the dealer so that he can support his customer base.
And we need to do that in a way that allows both the
dealer and Coast to be profitable.
"So
what I see as the biggest challenge for us as a
company is making sure that day-in and day-out, we
have everybody within the organization working toward
that goal, whether it be the person taking the order,
the sales rep in the field, or someone picking orders
in the warehouse. I see my biggest challenge in
getting us to perform consistently every day.
"There’s
a number of ways to do that, but communication is a
big key to getting that message to everyone,
internally and externally. Over the next year I have
a great deal of time dedicated to spending in the
field, traveling with sales people and calling on
customers. I plan to go to each of our facilities and
spend time there with our people. I want to get more
involved because it’s important that they
understand what the company’s philosophy
is."
And
since Jeff has been with Coast during its rapid
growth, his understanding of that philosophy is based
on experience. He said, "When I came to work for
Coast in 1984 we had one location — the one here
in San Jose. I opened our Texas facility which was
our second division. When Coast acquired Trailer
Equip-ment in Portland, I moved from Texas to Oregon
and ran that division."
Continued
