People First, Pt. 10: Meet the Brokerage Employee of the Year, Phillip Skeens

We’ve officially reached the end of this People First series, recognizing TA Services’ award-winning employees. But because there is so much diverse and abundant talent here at TA, you can expect to see more People First series to come!

Last week, you met our Warehousing Employee of the Year, Mitch Houston. In this final series post, we’re introducing you to Phillip Skeens, our inaugural Brokerage Employee of the Year winner. 

This year, we launched our first-ever Employee of the Year awards to recognize the members of our team who consistently go the extra mile. We will continue to name two Employees of the Year each year — one for brokerage/administrative employees and one for warehousing employees. The winners of these awards are chosen from a pool of Employee of the Month winners (24 candidates in total; 12 for each category). 

We are pleased to announce that Phillip Skeens was named our 2022 Brokerage Employee of the Year. Phillip began his six-year tenure at TA working in operations for the Managed Transportation department. Two years ago, he transitioned into a new role as Director of Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) in which he made considerable strides in updating TA’s technology systems and processes. In this role he was also responsible for supplying and maintaining the IT equipment for every TA site.

Phillip has recently moved into a new role as Director of Business Solutions, proving he can use his vast skillset to adapt and meet the needs of the business. Phillip regularly travels to the various TA Services locations and puts in many long hours every day to go the extra mile and ensure the TA team is set up for success.

For this People First series finale, we chatted with Phillip to learn about his role, the impact his work has at TA Services, and his Brokerage Employee of the Year recognition. 

Q: You made a significant career move when transitioning to the IS&T team two years ago. Can you tell us about the transition to that role? 
A: When I moved into this role in 2021, it was a new role for the company. TA had always used shared IT resources with our parent company, PS Logistics, until the Celadon acquisition in 2019. Before then, the IT team was primarily focused on the warehousing side, so we needed to bridge the gap between warehousing and TA’s other business lines — brokerage, managed transportation, and back-office. To do so, they created this new role focused on creating a core IT infrastructure and partnering with the different business owners on process improvement. 

Q: How has your role continued to grow in the last two years? 
A: Our team continually adapts to the needs of the business, so my role has to change focus as the business grows and changes. I recently moved into a new role as Director of Business Solutions. This entails taking a step back from the customer help desk and hardware side of information systems to focus on business solutions. In this role I ask questions like, “What does the business need to help it obtain stability while continuing to grow?”. 

Q: And how has the IS&T team grown during that time? 
A: When I started on the IS&T team, it was a team of  two or three individuals working mainly on the warehousing side of the business. We quickly grew the team by bringing on two other incredible members. Since then, we’ve grown to a team of nine. And we did that relatively quickly — from three to nine in just 15 months. When it comes to developing the team, we look at the business needs and assess how our team should evolve to help meet those needs. One of the most important things for our team is flexibility. No one on my team ever says, “That’s not my job.” We’re all willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. 

Q: What types of projects fall under the umbrella of business solutions? 
A: The basic principles of process improvement show that you can only improve something once you have stability in the process. It’s one of the first rules of Six Sigma. So, we work with the business to understand our employees’ challenges or obstacles in their roles. What do they need that they don’t have today to do their jobs better?

An example of this would be implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. TA has grown to the point that we need a CRM tool to help us continue to grow and bring in new business. We’ve worked with the sales team to understand their processes and learn what they need in a tool to make them more effective. For example, they need an efficient and mobile system that they can access anywhere. Our job is to help them identify and implement the right tool seamlessly. 

Q: How has coming from the operations side of the business helped you in your IT role? 
A: I spent about 23 years in operations before this, and I have experience in warehousing, sales, and managed transportation. That experience has helped me bridge the gap to better understand what people in those roles need to help them succeed — because I can relate; I’ve been in their shoes. 

Q: How did it feel to be recognized with the Brokerage Employee of the Year honor? 
A: I was shocked and truly humbled. I don’t come to work to receive an award. I enjoy coming to work and making ship happen every day and I am honored to serve as part of the TA Family. It was a humbling experience to receive this award. I believe that no matter your role, you come to work and do the best job you can do, both for yourself and the company. What matters to me is knowing that I do my very best every day for a company that I take pride in working for.

Q: As an Employee of the Year winner, you were awarded a trip to the Super Bowl. Tell us about that experience.
A: That’s something people only dream of. I brought my son, so having that experience with him and time together was really something special to me. Words can’t really describe that experience, but I am so grateful to have had it. 

Join us in congratulating Phillip on being our 2022 Brokerage Employee of the Year. And thank you for coming along with us throughout this series to recognize our hard-working team. 

Ready to join a team that values you? Check out our career opportunities!