MISSION Sustainable


Tyson Foods’ Bryan McDuffie and a lifelong goal to minimize his personal and professional carbon footprint


By Kelly Cargill Crow Contributing Writer


For most men, their pickup truck is


a point of pride—the apple of their eye. But not for Bryan McDuffie. He apolo- gizes as we walk out to his four-door Toyota truck. “My wife drives a Prius, and I drive


my motorcycle about half the time,” he quickly explains. But, he points out, “I need something to haul my fishing boat.” He’s not apologizing because the


truck is dirty or old. No, he’s apologiz- ing because he has spent the past hour explaining his passion for reducing his carbon footprint. And his pickup doesn’t play into his green guy image. But spend five minutes with him,


and you’ll quickly learn that Bryan McDuffie, vice president of transporta- tion at Tyson Foods, Inc., is wholly dedi- cated to the environment. An avid outdoorsman, he and


his wife, Jayne, live on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas in what was “the 17th house in the nation to be Energy Star certified,” he says with a grin. “It’s


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 3 2015


kind of a big deal.” And transferring that passion into


improving his company’s sustainability is among his lifelong goals… Number 8 on his bucket list, in fact. “It’s a real list—numbered and


prioritized,” he says. Included in two bucket list items is his desire to “have all of our customers look at us as being truly industry leading.” As Transport Topics’ 12th


largest


private carrier in the nation in 2014 with 2,873 tractors and $34.4 billion in annual sales, people typically take note of what Tyson is doing. Last year, the Springdale, Arkansas-


based company set about to reprioritize its own agenda by combining its private fleet, contract transportation and inter- modal divisions into one transportation department. That’s when McDuffie transferred from director of contract carriers to overseeing all of Tyson’s transportation operations. “It allows us to be more


collaborative,” McDuffie says. “We’ve been able to establish a common set of goals and objectives.” Many of which


have arisen from their dealings with contract carriers. “He comes with a world of talent


and understanding of what’s going on the industry,” says Larry “Blue” Keene, Tyson’s vice president of warehousing and former director of its private fleet. “Bryan’s been trying to set the


course with where to focus our trans- portation services. He was a natural fit to lead that charge. He has a big, broad understanding of transportation and a great network of contract carriers who he can lean on to ask ‘Hey, can we do this? Can we do that?’” Tyson, Keene points out, uses


contract carriers for 60 percent of its transportation needs; the other 40 percent is managed by its private fleet. “Our private fleet is not designed to do everything for our company. There are some very good refrigerated and dry-van carriers that can provide great service,” Keene says. And, McDuffie says, “We prefer to


do business with above average compa- nies.”


 Photography by John David Pittman 29


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