MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Keith Pirnie Grand Island Express Pirnie


By Steve Brawner Contributing Writer


Te committee that selects the NTA’s


Driver of the Month has a problem: Grand Island Express’ Keith Pirnie is too good at completing the nomination forms. He’s so thorough and persuasive that his company’s drivers could win the award every month. “I have a passion for getting those guys


recognized for what they do,” Pirnie said. “And luckily, we have such great drivers, they should be winning.” As vice president of operations, Pirnie


oversees operations, maintenance and safety for the company started by his uncle, Jim Pirnie. He is celebrating 45 years of service by relinquishing his title and taking more of a part-time role. “I’ve got a couple of grandkids I want to


spend a little time with. ... I’m relocating from Grand Island to Omaha. ... Grandmother has told me that’s where we’re going to live,” he said.


Pirnie’s father, Frank, was a shop foreman


with an associated trucking company, so Pirnie grew up around the family business. After graduating Chadron State College, he took an office job with Grand Island Express. “I just knew I wanted to get into business,


and there were plenty of openings in trucking, so (I) started there and just never left,” he said. From there, Pirnie became a shop manager and then in 1988 became operations manager.


It was a nice promotion, but he only received one day of on-the-job training. On his second day, the Department of Transportation audited the company. It forced him to learn the job quickly. “Had to have a plan of action the next


day where we were going to change to stay in business. ... Just got some of my key managers together and did an all-nighter to come up with an acceptable plan for them,” he said. Pirnie apparently performed well in the


crisis, because Grand Island Express is still in business. Andy Winkler, the company’s director of operations and soon to be vice president, said Pirnie’s laid-back style has been a good example. “I guess he’s kind of the voice of reason,


if you will, in kind of a chaotic business or industry sometimes,” he said. “He’s always the one that keeps his cool. You’ve got a situation or whatever going on, Keith’s always the guy that calmly helps you walk through scenarios.” Pirnie and the company’s president, Tom


Pirnie, are golf partners. While Keith says he’s not very good, Tom says his cousin always keeps his cool on the course. “He never gets mad and throws his club. He’s a very controlled individual, very studious about anything he does,” Tom said. Pirnie was the NTA’s 2004 Trucking


Professional of the Year, which he explained by saying that he “probably got lucky there to get that award.” A greater source of pride is


the one the company received in 2013 from the Truckload Carriers Association: Best Fleet to Drive For, Best Overall Fleet for Company Drivers. Tat award measured Grand Island Express against all other fleets in the United States and Canada. “I think Keith has a lot to do with that,”


said Tom Pirnie. In addition to golf, Keith Pirnie also


has raced funny cars. He most enjoyed the mechanics involved in improving the vehicle, but the racing was fun, too. “To me, the most exciting thing is if the


tires grab like they’re supposed to, and they’re huge tires, the front end will come off the ground, and they don’t really come back down into you’re at about 90 miles an hour,” he said. “So from zero to 90 you have no steering. ... Tat’s when you make pretty sure that you’re pointed straight and that your tires have exactly the same amount of air pressure so that the car doesn’t veer one way or the other.” Pirnie doesn’t race funny cars now. It is,


after all, a “money intensive hobby,” as he described it. But even as vice president of operations, he still likes to get his hands dirty every once in a while in the shop. “Sometimes the guys need the leadership,


and you certainly get a lot more respect when you can go out there and show them how to do it right,” he said. nt


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NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 3, 2014 — www.nebtrucking.com


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