MEMBER SPOTLIGHT WILLMADDOX Tri-State Truck Centers PHOTO BY JOHN DAVID PITTMAN
BY TODD TRAUB Contributing Writer
From his end of the phone it was clear
Will Maddox was sincere as he made his apologies. “I got hung up trying to sell some
trucks,” he said, explaining why he had been slow to return a call. But it’s hard to blame Maddox. After
all, selling trucks is the name of the game and has been since Maddox, turning 30 in November, joined the family business — Memphis-based Tri-State Truck Center — when he was fresh out of college in 2008. Responsible for new truck sales, Mad-
dox, along with his older brother Jim and cousin Paul, are part of a fourth genera- tion of Maddoxes to take their place in the company that F.A. Maddox Sr. founded as Tri-State Mack in Memphis in 1945. “We actually enjoy being around each
other so that helps,” Will Maddox said of the family connection that extends to the company’s leadership, Will’s father Jim and his uncle Rod. “My Dad likes to say I’m son of the
boss, that’s a position,” Will said when asked his job title. “But S.O.B. can stand for something else too.” All kidding aside, Tri-State Truck
Center has shown a healthy bottom line since rebounding from the recession years during which Will joined the company after completing his degree in finance at Ole Miss. One of the advantages of joining a family business, Maddox said, was hav- ing a job waiting him for him during lean economic times while his fellow college graduates didn’t as easily find work. “Business is good,” Maddox said. “We’ve had a nice run the last five, six years com-
34
ing out of a very poor business market.” The past three plus years have been
especially good for Tri-State, which during that stretch bought new dealerships in Jop- lin, Mo., and Springfield, Mo., to expand the company count to nine. Over the summer Tri-State increased its number franchises selling Volvo dealerships. While it began as a Mack dealership,
Tri-State now has only two stores that are Mack only. The rest are dual-branded Mack and Volvo locations. “If you’re not growing you’re getting
passed up,” Maddox said. Often, when children enter a family
business, they will spend time in the com- pany’s various departments, learning how each job functions. But Maddox, who caught the Tri-State bug when he began working there during summers around the age of 10 or 11, says that in his case his father basically told him “You’re here, go make yourself useful.” “It was tough but my brother and I both
gravitated to the sales positions,” Maddox said. “We’re friendly, people types.” While the family members, and all
Tri-State employees, are encouraged to keep TENNESSEE TRUCKING NEWS
work and personal life separate as much as possible, it’s hard for the Maddoxes to avoid running into co-workers at family gather- ings.
“You’d think we get enough of each
other at work but we spend a lot of time to- gether,” said Maddox, who also enjoys golf and duck hunting. “When it gets cold outside I’m definitely
chasing some ducks,” said Maddox, who likes the social aspect of the sport as much as he does bagging his limit. As of mid-October, Maddox and his
wife Mary had about a month to go before the arrival of their second child. He has been working his golf and hunting out- ings around time spent with Mary and 3-year-old daughter Notley, who is named for a patriarchal ancestor who served with George Washington at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. While Maddox, a self-described history
nut, helped research the family tree and his daughter’s unique name, he said Notley actually had her name bestowed with the blessing of her mother. “I don’t do naming,” he said with a
laugh. “I sell trucks.” TTN Q3 2015
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