From left to right: Roger Mohr, John Deere; Michael Naletko, public fleet Technician of the Year, Christopher Flood, private fleet Technician of the Year, and Mike Watkins, John Deere.The Association of Equipment Management Professionals named its Technicians of the Year last week at the organization’s 34th Management Conference and Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.
Taking the top honor for private sector fleets was Christopher (Chippy) Flood, of the Pennsylvania-based Glenn O. Hawbaker company. Dave Irwin, shop supervisor at Hawbaker said, “Chris has the ability to do job right the first time, safely and correctly. It doesn’t matter how big or how small the job or the location. He is the first to jump in and he has the ability to communicate with everybody from management on down to the laborers. If Chippy is on site, you know it’s going to get fixed.”
In the public fleet category, the winner was Michael Naletko of Sarasota County Fleet Services, Sarasota Florida. Greg Morris, CEM and fleet manager at Sarasota County said: “Michael hit the ground running and never look back. He is the guy you go to; he was nominated by his peers with unanimous approval. He has superb customer service skills and leads by example.”
Both winners received a custom-built John Deere rolling toolbox, embroidered jacket and a $500 continuing education scholarship. The Technician of the Year program is sponsored by John Deere, the AEMP Education Foundation and Randall-Reilly.
AEMP also named its finalists in the Technician of the Year competition. These include:
- Dale Casino, Sherwood Construction
- Jeff Pinnow, Waste Management Valley Trail Landfill
- Richard Waitz, CCC Group
- Anatoliy Yurchenko, Brubacher Excavating
- Randall Clawson, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Travis Elliott, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Leonard Hodge, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Cory Payne, Virginia Department of Transportation
- Terry Rought, Jr., Virginia Department of Transportation
- Andrew Rouslin, Sarasota County Fleet Services
- Gary Smith, Arapahoe County Fleet Management
