tune with all of that stuff.”
A number of family members work for the company, including Ray’s wife, Shari. His brother, Mike, is a dispatcher. Ray’s daughter, Jacki Jones, is director of human resources. Her husband, Tyler, helps the company main- tain CSA compliance. Ray’s son, Josh, works with special projects at Starlite Motor Sports. Josh’s wife, Brittany, also works at Star- lite. Ray’s sister, Becky, at one time worked in the company’s information technology department. Another brother, Ken, (one year younger than Ray – same birthday in May) is a doctor in Grand Island. Often Ken will provide medical care for Sunrise associates. He also owns a game preserve near Grand Island that Sunrise uses from time to time for employee outings and customer VIP visits. Last year, the oldest brother, David, joined the company. Three years older than Ray, he had spent almost 40 years in the agriculture industry doing technical work, sales and international sales. In the prime of his career he was working for an Illinois company as president of international activities. Years
ago, the two had kicked around the idea of working together. Then Ray called on April 21, 2016, and asked David to visit him. The two had a long talk, and before it was over, Ray asked David to come work with him. That conversation lasted four or five months. Then, on Oct. 10 – purposely on their late mother’s birthday – David joined the compa- ny as general manager.
Hiring family members wasn’t an ac-
cident, though it wasn’t the original plan. Instead, Ray said, they had the right expe- riences in life, along with “the same drive and the want to and will to go forward, and trust comes a long way. … I felt that they could cross over into what we’re doing, and hopefully bring in an energy and a drive to what we’re trying to accomplish. And easier said than done, but it won’t be from lack of trying.”
Outside the office, Ray has a rich life. He and Shari have four grandkids. They have a boat on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where they have family gatherings. In his spare time, he maintains what some might
call a ranch and what others might call a sanctuary with a variety of animals outside of Grand Island. “He’s the nature guy that he will look at the Humane Society website, and if he looks at an animal, like say, a puppy or even a full-grown dog, and he makes some sort of contact with them and feels like that they’re in need, he’ll just go get them,” David said. In 31 years, Ray has been a leader in building Sunrise Express from a few trucks to almost 200. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s mostly been successful. If the future is like the past, the company will eventually have 400-500 power units, and then more. Reaching that goal will be satisfying. So will be trying to reach it. As Ray told Nebraska Trucker in 2004, he enjoys “those moments when everybody’s rolling and every- thing’s running smooth. There’s personal sat- isfaction in accomplishing what you thought you couldn’t, in always pushing forward. Because it’s not the end result. The enjoyment is in the chase.”
nebtrucking.com
Issue 1, 2017 - Nebraska Trucker
17
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