Ray said growth is important because of “sustainability and being able to service the customer base in the area. If you’re too small, you weren’t able to, and if you’re not able to sustain the business, after a period of time you’d lose out to those who could.” Drivers remain a focus. Brother David


Vettel, the company’s general manager, said Sunrise Express offers a compensation package meant to be competitive with the largest carriers, with incentives for mileage and efficiency and other opportunities for drivers to make extra money. Dispatchers try to get drivers home as much as they can. The company even lets drivers pick their truck’s color because, David explained, “We want the drivers to feel like that’s their piece of equipment, because it is.”


For drivers and non-driver employees, the company tries to maintain a close-knit, caring structure – an outgrowth of Ray’s big heart. David said Ray will go the extra mile to help his employees, even if it temporarily affects the bottom line. “We are not that big corporation that’s very bureaucratic and layered and awkward


or not so friendly to work with. We are wanting to maintain this small- to mid-sized business structure with an atmosphere that is family oriented,” he said. “Raymond really cares for all of his employees. … Almost to a fault, you can say.” For Ray, the key to having good em- ployees is finding the right ones and then preparing them to do their jobs in the context of the company’s overall mission. At Sun- rise Express, employees aren’t just cogs in a wheel. They are trained from the ground up so they understand how different aspects of the company work together – so, for exam- ple, safety personnel understand logging, and dispatchers don’t book loads they shouldn’t. “We look for quality people that we


won’t have to babysit,” he told Nebraska Trucker in 2004. “We don’t put an employee in a position to fail. We don’t just demand from them. We help them grow into the job, although drivers have just got to have experi- ence. We listen to what each driver’s priorities are. Maybe someone doesn’t fully under- stand how to maximize mileage. Maybe an owner-operator needs some information on


how to operate efficiently and be financially sound. Everyone is a valuable asset.” Ray’s efforts have borne fruit in part because of his deep roots in the industry. His father, Raymond, worked 38 years for Ohio-based Coldway Food Express, a refrigerated carrier that hauled swinging meat. When Raymond was a long haul driver, Ray and his siblings – he’s the second oldest of four brothers and a sister – sometimes would climb up in the rigs and ride with him on trips across the country. Otherwise, the children were left at home under the care of their mother, Phyllis, who knew exactly how to handle them.


“She was a truck driver’s wife, and with a driver on the road a lot, with four boys and a girl running around screaming and whatnot, you can imagine what she was like,” said David, the oldest brother by three years. “She was a drill sergeant. Man, all she had to do was raise her voice and we were at attention. But she was a great woman, a great mother.” In 1971, Raymond stopped driving and was made an operations manager in charge


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