Max and Lisa Christensen traveled to China for the adoption of both of their children.
The Christensens are a “happy as clams” family, as seen here camping.
knows the ins and outs of this industry and anytime anyone needs information, he is a great resource,” she said. “He is also straightforward and honest and that’s what he would expect from you as well. He’s got a lot of great ideas.”
SUCCESS FROM THE BEGINNING Christensen has all the tools needed to
get the job done. Te sharpest tools in his repertoire may very well be his tenacity, industry knowledge, straightforwardness and cooperation. Te beginnings of his skill set began in
Anita, Iowa, where Max was a driver, me- chanic and the transportation director of a 12-bus fleet for eight years. “I learned all areas of the industry there,” he recalls. Anita was followed by a job as a driver
in Fort Dodge, where he moved when wife Lisa took a job as a road rep for a music company. “I worked there under Chris Darling, who is still one of the fin- est transportation directors in the nation,” Christensen said. “He gave me some great new ideas to work with. I learned a great deal from him. He was my mentor.” During this time, Max was also doubling
as a radio announcer under the name Max Corey. Besides the extra income, it was the culmination of a childhood dream. “Ever since I was a kid I always wanted
to be on the radio,” he said. “I was a ra- dio announcer at three different radio stations in addition to driving the bus. In 1988, when I turned 30, I went to school for it while holding down my full-time job in Anita. I was a pretty busy boy then.”
Christensen shed his alter ego after taking
the job as transportation director in Perry. His approach to student transportation is simple — safety first. And safety begins with training. His tenacity was put on display in
2005 when he looked to update Iowa’s driver training program to make it more efficient. Christensen learned at the NAPT conference in Austin, Texas, that online training was available. Tis would greatly reduce the time spent traveling to class- rooms around the state. “I brought the concept back, and there
was an unbelievable amount of political hoops to jump through and other issues to deal with at the state level,” Christensen said. “And when we brought it to the at- tention of local school districts, we heard that older bus drivers would not accli-
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