Solutions Current Issues > July.Aug.Sept_2008 > FIRST ARTICLES
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WAREHOUSE MANAGER GOES THE DISTANCE
RL Hudson Warehouse Manager Robert
Pitchford was making breakfast for his
two children on a recent Saturday
morning when he got an unusual phone
call. It was from a customer. The company
prides itself in maintaining close
relationships with customers. Most conversations,
however, are confined to
regular business hours, so Robert was a
little surprised
by the call.
It turned out that the customer, who was in need of an emergency shipment of parts, had jumped through some hoops to locate Robert’s home phone number.
“They were trying to determine how to reach someone here on a weekend, then I guess they remembered seeing my picture on the cover of the last issue of Solutions, and they tracked me down from there,” said Robert.
As soon as the customer explained the situation, Robert jumped in his car, drove to the warehouse, put the order together and shipped the parts.
“Usually Rick Hudson is the only one at the office on Saturday,” Robert said, “but that day he had some company.”
Robert was quick to emphasize that what he did was no big deal.
“It’s just what we do around here; we take care of our customers,” he said, “I do wish it had been easier for them to find my number, though.”
So, if you ever find yourself in a jam and need parts shipped on a Saturday, give Robert a call. His number is (918) 250-7887. And while his children missed a dad-made breakfast, Robert was home in time to make lunch.
ROUX CARROLL JOINS EXECUTIVE TEAM
Roux Carroll’s tenure at RL Hudson goes
back a long way, but his relationship
with the Hudson family reaches back
even further. Roux and Territory
Manager Jason Hudson have known each
other since they played sports together
in elementary school. Jason remembers
Roux as an excellent athlete.
“He was always one of the best players we had on any team — baseball, soccer, basketball — no matter what the sport,” Jason said.
CEO Rick Hudson, who was an avid fan of the boys; teams, noticed something else.
“Roux has always been a natural leader,” Rick said.“He was always able to get everybody on the team pulling together toward a common goal.”
And just as he demonstrated leadership on the playing field, Roux has shown that same ability during his years at RL Hudson.
In 1998, Roux began his career at RL Hudson working in the warehouse. After earning his business degree with a minor in Management Information Systems from Kansas State University, he moved to the IT department . Within two years, he was head of the department.
In this position, Roux has led the implementation of RL Hudson’s cutting edge enterprise software system and developed sophisticated systems that have improved customer service and efficiency throughout the organization.
In his new role as vice president of operations, Roux leads the logistics, customer service and quality assurance departments in addition to IT.
TOBY JOPLIN NAMED CONTROLLER
Corporate finance veteran Toby Joplin
has joined RL Hudson as the company’s
new controller. Toby has nearly
20 years of experience in finance and
accounting, most recently as chief
financial officer at the award-winning
film production company, Impact
Productions.
Before joining Impact, he worked for TaascFORCE, a Tulsa-based tax and accounting software firm which was acquired by financial software giant Intuit (known for products like TurboTax, QuickBooks and Quicken).
Following the acquisition, Toby joined Intuit, where he led the team that developed and launched www.TaxAlmanac.org, a free tax research website sponsored by Intuit, which has been recognized by both Time and Business Week.
A certified public accountant, Toby began his career as a staff accountant at Sartain Fischbein, one of Oklahoma’s largest independent certified public accounting firms. Toby received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he currently serves on the Advisory Board for the School of Accounting.
Toby took the reins of RL Hudson’s eight-person finance and accounting department in June.
