Oscar Baeza, CFO of Connors Transportation Company

Steve Kessler
You came to the boot camp. I guess. What? A couple of weeks ago. So it should be pretty fresh on your mind. Was there anything in particular that you liked about the event? Just kind of a real open question. 

Oscar Baeza
So no, I think overall, and I had a chance to talk to Diana on the way out. And I think overall everything was top notch from the programming, the presentation, you know everything on the travel part of it, you really all did a phenomenal job. I learned a lot, you know, not being part of the safety program or safety side of things. You know, I took away a lot of good information. And so my intent is to build on that information and really start developing a safety culture for the company. 

Steve Kessler
That’s fantastic. Was there anything that surprised you about the program? 

Oscar Baeza
You know what it was really well run, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I came in there, I really had no expectations whatsoever, but I was thoroughly impressed. I really was the entire team. Everything really was really well done and so kudos to your team. 

Steve Kessler
Very good, very good. Thank you. Thank you for that. Would you say was there, was there a biggest take away for you? Was there one thing that really stuck out? 

Oscar Baeza
So let’s see. You know, there’s a lot of information that I took away again. You know, I because I come from a different perspective. Right. So, you know, one of the things that that I didn’t know that was an option was a custom content part of it. And so when we did our safety meeting in person earlier in the year. We didn’t have a great attendance. The roll call feature is phenomenal and then the custom content feature in terms of being able to disseminate that PowerPoint to the attendees that were not there or the drivers that were not attending would have been really nice as well. So I have yet to do that, but I think that was a really interesting part that I learned. And then you know what else I found really interesting is the attorney, the clip of the attorney you played. Very well done. I got some great information out of that as well, so.

Steve Kessler
Yeah, you know, sadly in this business that that part is important to kind of know how to be defendable because you know with crashes in trucking, it’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s just when and you have to be prepared and you have to be able to defend yourself. So I’m glad that was. A big part for you. Let me run this by you. This is something we’re considering. We’ve been kicking around the idea of inviting our boot camp guest to bring in their loss runs and expense sheets and the idea is that we could put in a segment where we might sit down and actually build a targeted training plan. Here’s kind of how we think we would do it. We would, you know, kind of have a sample of a loss runs or expense sheets on the screen and let the guest’s kind of look at their own individually. What would you have felt like if you’d have been asked to bring those items? Because that’s kind of the key question that we have here. 

Oscar Baeza
I would have been very open to it. 

Steve Kessler
If they’ve been comfortable with that. 

Oscar Baeza
100% yeah, I think it would have been a good add-on to be honest with you. Because it does give a very specialized attention to the individual company. And yeah, I think I think most people would be receptive to that. 

Steve Kessler
Yeah, I kind of thought so and you know that’s, you know as the CFO, you know those are more along the lines of things that at least I understand you would generally be looking at. You know where are we spending money, where are we bleeding money. You know how much money are we spending on tires because the driver hit the curb and flattened the tire or backed into a stationary object? All those things are expenses that add up greatly in companies, and very often are things that you can attend to with training. 

Oscar Baeza
I think it helps, yeah. I’m sorry to cut you off. Yeah, I think it does help build a case for ownership, you know, we are a small company, right? And so oftentimes, I find myself having to justify how we’re going to spend the company’s money. And if I had those resources and say, look, you know tires for example, we can mitigate some of the tire expense by doing these, you know these enacting these safety measures, right. So very important I think, yeah. 

Steve Kessler
That’s good. That’s good to know. I appreciate that. That feedback you know we don’t have a lot of CFO’s that that come to our program. You know most of them as you know are safety managers or maybe risk management. But from your perspective Oscar what do you wish more safety and training managers understood. From the CFO’s standpoint, that may be kind of a loaded question. 

Oscar Baeza
Yeah. So what would it? You know I. I think that so you know, my case is a little unique. I think we have a safety person in place, you know, near retirement and hasn’t really been very proactive. And that’s why I’ve adopted. That’s why you saw me there. Because of adopting some I’ve some of their roles right. And so I think the impact to the bottom line and safety managers may understand that. In my experience in the current situation, you know the bottom line is not the objective. And so you know, unfortunately because we don’t have a robust safety plan in place, there isn’t much there. And so you know, I’ll be honest with you, Steve, my exposure in this type of space is not great. It has not been a good experience, you know, with the safety side of things, so. You know, I am taking on that responsibility and trying to build on that programming now. And so ultimately, I don’t know if I can, you know, generally answer that question in general terms, right. And in my experience, I think, yeah, it’s been difficult, it’s been difficult, and you know my objective is to manage the bottom line and you know, and so yeah, so we look at insurance claims, we look at things, but you know I suspect that in in most cases safety managers. Do those things. 

Steve Kessler
You would hope so, but I’m not sure that in every case that is how they think they’re looking to, you know, reduce accidents and, you know, try to improve CSA scores. All those things can. Have a positive impact on your bottom line, but I don’t know that they’re necessarily thinking about. Gosh, I really need to do a better job of training my drivers because they keep damaging tires or they keep backing in to stationary objects and causing damage to our equipment and trailers and other people’s things. You know, some of those little small things that they don’t necessarily consider to be a big safety issue yet. It is a training issue and something that could have a positive impact on the bottom line. I’m not sure they always think along those lines. 

Oscar Baeza
Yeah, perhaps not. You know, one of the things that our safety in person safety meeting that we had with our drivers. You know, I asked them. I put it, you know, I was very blunt. I said help me help you. Right? Because I want to reward people. I want to improve and lift the company up and as I do that, I am the type of person that wants to then share that with others, right and o If you help me, I will help you. So, I think it is a symbiotic relationship that we’re developing, and I hope to continue building on that. 

Steve Kessler
Fantastic. One real quick last question. Do you think this event has value for other CFO’s and COO’s, and if so? How could it have more value for them? 

Oscar Baeza
So I do, you know, I left there with a new sense of what safety managers are going through and what they see. And so I think that this all intertwines with managing the bottom line. It really does. And so if somebody, from my vantage point, knowing what the culture having to develop a safety culture and integrate it into the company. And what the result hopefully would be lower, you know, improved loss runs, lower costs and so on and so forth. It does impact them. And so I think it would be, I think it would be wise for CFO’s and you know anybody in the C-Suite to you know participate and understand. Because oftentimes we don’t make the time, you know this is not my area, you know? And you do you end up learning a lot and learning what your drivers are going through and what your safety role managers are going through as well, so yeah. 

Yeah, I think what you’re really talking about here is you’re approaching a true safety culture where everybody in the company safety is a big part of the company. It’s also a big part of the finances of the company. You know, all those things have to work together. Safety, upper management, the executive suite, all those people have to be focused on safety and all those things, in the end will help make them more successful, more profitable company. 

Oscar Baeza
Agreed. And you and I think it was you that pointed it out and said, you know, don’t just have your drivers do the safety programming. Everybody in the team should be participating as well. And I’m like, you know that at first I didn’t understand why you were thinking that and as I said and I’m like. Why would he want everybody and then? And then you kind of later, you know? Shared and I’m like, you know, that kind of makes sense it. Makes sense. You develop the culture. 

Steve Kessler
Yeah, everybody’s got. Yeah, everybody has to sort of be rolling in the in the same direction. You know, I think of safety culture. You really, truly have a safety culture when you’re always doing the right thing even when nobody’s looking. 

Oscar Baeza
100%. 

Steve Kessler
So I think that that’s when you’ve developed that culture, everybody can point out something they think is unsafe, there’s no repercussions. Everybody is pushing in the same direction and there’s certainly companies that can, you know, reduce accidents and incidents and reduce those things that cost money. That safety program can improve the overall bottom line of the company at the same time. 

Oscar Baeza
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. 

Steve Kessler
Very good.Oscar, thank you very much, Sir. I promised I wouldn’t take up too much of your time. I do certainly appreciate you joining me today. Thank you for that. And all I can say is I wish you all the best there. I hope the economy gets better and the business is booming and everything is great. That’s all I can hope for you. 

Oscar Baeza
I appreciate that Steve. I do. And I want to thank you and your team for doing an outstanding job. Again, it was a pleasure meeting you and working with your team and you guys did a great, great program. So yes. 

Steve Kessler
Very good, Oscar. Thank you much, Sir. Appreciate it. Call me anytime if you got questions or want to run something by me. I’m here and we’re going to listen to what you all have to say out there. So feel free to do that if you think about it. 

Oscar Baeza
Sounds good. Thank you.

Steve Kessler
Thanks, Oscar. I appreciate you, Sir. Alright, bye bye. 

Oscar Baeza
All right, take care. 

~Oscar Baeza
CFO
Connors Transportation Company
ConnorsTransportation.net