Employee Spotlight

Over the years he has built all types of equipment from dump beds to feed trailers. 

He soon obtained his ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Pipe certification to be a Code Welder – allowing him the opportunity to manufacture ASME Code Vacuum Tanks. 

Jackson is part of the Ledwell SEED Program. A program that cross-trains future leaders in each shop for a year.

“Buck is smart, hard-working, self-motivated, wants everything to be the right kind of person.” said Brad Stringer, Jackson’s Foreman, “He’s the type of employee that you can give a project to and walk away, knowing it will be right and finished in a timely manner. His work ethic and desire to succeed make him a very big asset to Ledwell.”

Currently, he is the Lead Man in the Kit Bay making kits for Water Trucks and Dump Trucks to streamline the process of mounting the bodies to the chassis in the Truck Shop.

Before Jackson started packing kits he was building vacuum tank subframes and learning how to mount the vacuum tanks that he would normally be building if he were not part of the SEED Program.

“Building tanks come naturally to me at this point, but troubleshooting in the Truck Shop challenges you and requires you to use your problem-solving skills,” said Jackson.

Jackson has been married for 12 years to Ashley and they have two sons, Drake and Walker. 

During his time off work, he likes to ride dirt bikes and go hunting for deer and duck.

“I am thankful to work for a company that cares about its employees,” said Matthew Gentry, who started working at Ledwell in 2016. Matthew has operated the band saw in the Machine Shop since the beginning.

On his typical day, he receives work orders from various shops concerning the length of material they need cut and the quantity. Both round and angle bar, as well as flat bar and structural beams, are common materials.

“We have nearly 400 types of materials to balance,” Gentry explained. “We need to cut these to a variety of lengths so production can run smoothly.”

The most challenging jobs he completes demand multiple angles cut on one piece of material, making them his favorite.

Matthew studied Audio Engineering in college. Though he isn’t using his skills at Ledwell, he makes up for it in his spare time.

At home, he has a music studio where he records music, but it’s not just any kind of music. It’s music he writes and performs. 

He has helped raise money through his album Far From Here for a non-profit, Guitars for Vets.

Dedicated is one way to describe Juan Maldonado.

Juan has worked in the Electronics Department at Ledwell for over a decade. Almost every piece of equipment that Ledwell develops has Juan’s handy work. 

Through the years, he has built many wireless remotes that operate feed trailers and rollbacks.

“Building the circuit boards for our remotes has been the most challenging task over the years. They are very delicate,” Juan said; “it’s amazing to me that a small piece I put together goes on to operate trucks and trailers.”

Working on remotes has been his favorite project to date.

Presently, he is assembling air solenoids and wiring harnesses for moving parts on equipment.

Juan and his wife of 26 years, Jandi, have three children and one grandchild. They have dedicated their lives to giving back to the community in the form of fostering.  

“It has been a blessing to help families when they need it the most,” Juan said. 

Not only is Juan a dedicated employee, but he is also dedicated to his community.

Robert West lives by words taught to him by his father – Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

“I try to be like my father who has excellent work ethics. Is honest and hardworking,” he said.

If you were to ask his co-workers at Ledwell East in North Carlina, they would say the same thing about Robert, who started working at Ledwell almost seven years ago.

He has performed many duties over the years from working in the shop to purchasing. Robert currently oversees the Parts Department in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

“Helping customers solve issues is the most challenging, but most rewarding part of my day,” he said. 

One of his most memorable projects has been organizing a parts pallet rack system to help with efficiency in the shop.

Working in industrial supply and specialty feeds prepared Robert for his current position.

“Ledwell has been the most interesting and fun job. I have learned so much with the new technology with our Smart Feed Trailers and updating equipment,” Robert said. “I’ve had great teachers over the years and look up to them.”

Robert and his wife, Jackie, have two sons – one of whom works in the shop at Ledwell East. His favorite pastime is fishing. When he isn’t fishing you might find him playing guitar or target shooting.

For international sales manager Art Lasanta, Ledwell wasn’t his first experience working with trucks.

“I started off in this industry,” he said. “My first job around trucks was in rebuilding transmissions and rear ends. That led to dismantling trucks for the guys who rebuilt them, and then I ran the scrap yard where we dismantled trucks for resale.”

Art Lasanta, top row, third from left

Art’s work at the scrap yard led him to sales.

“Because of my Spanish capabilities, I just started selling stuff,” he said. “Then I moved on to selling garbage trucks for 20 years.”

Here at Ledwell, Art is the sales representative for most international clients. He said large feed companies in Mexico make up the majority of his sales, but he has sold trucks worldwide—the Caribbean, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and more.

“I travel around a lot of small, unusual places,” he said. “I’m usually in a small agricultural town that’s out in the country. It’s interesting to see Mexico outside of the large cities.”

One unusual place he has sold a Ledwell truck is the Island of Montserrat.

“It’s a British colony in the Caribbean,” he said. “A volcano destroyed half of the island about ten years ago, so now only about 4,000 people are living on the island. I sold their public works department a vacuum truck for the island’s septic system.”

Art said connecting with others is his favorite thing about working for Ledwell.

“I love getting to meet new people and maintaining contacts with employees, being part of the team, and building relationships with the customers,” he said. “Getting to know them and working with them over the years, you form a friendship, a bond. That’s the most enjoyable part of my job, other than the moment you make the sale.”

The best career lesson Art has learned so far: just keep going.

“Keep moving forward,” he said. “You can’t worry about what already happened. You’ve got to pop your head up and move forward; don’t stop.”

Art and his wife live in Lakeland, Florida. They have five adult children and 11 grandkids. In his spare time, Art enjoys being handy around the yard and enjoying outdoor life in Central Florida—kayaking, fishing, and camping. Most of his coworkers don’t know this, but Art is an advanced scuba diver, though he doesn’t have a chance to dive often.

He said his personal motto is simple: be nice to people.

“I enjoy what I do,” Art said. “Interacting with the people and the customers—it’s been a great experience.”

When you work as a team you can accomplish any task. 

“Anything that comes through our bay, we can get it done,” said James Beard, who has worked at Ledwell since 2004.

James has worked on a variety of equipment since beginning his career at Ledwell. He has built everything from dump trucks to bulk haul feed bodies. 

“It just comes naturally over the years,” he said. 

James said there are times when something unusual or new comes through the shop, creating an opportunity to expand his knowledge.

 “One of the most challenging projects I’ve had was a snowplow and dump truck combo,” he said. “There were lots of valves in tight places. We had to use special tools to tighten them all.”

James and his wife of 15 years enjoy traveling to festivals and camping with their 16-year-old son. He is an avid runner who often enters local 5K runs. In fact, you might even see him running around the facility during his lunch break.

James said family and church are where he finds peace. 

“Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said.

Mark Van Herpen, Ledwell’s Chief Financial Officer, has been at Ledwell for 11 years.

“My favorite thing about Ledwell is that you never know what’s going to happen next,” he said. “I love being here, and I feel honored that I’ve had the privilege to come to work here.”

Before working at Ledwell, Mark served as CFO for a real estate management company that owned malls across the country. Transitioning to the manufacturing industry presented a steep learning curve.

“I didn’t know anything about manufacturing,” he said. “I just listened and learned. The most important thing I’ve learned here is that, as a company, we solve all problems.”

Mark said he loves college and professional sports, especially the L.A. Dodgers, L.A. Rams, and L.A. Lakers. Though he was raised in Arkansas, he was born in L.A., and his dad’s favorite teams rubbed off on him. He kicked off his career in finance by earning a degree in accounting from Arkansas Tech University.

Mark’s passion lies in charity work, and he supports many nonprofit organizations.

“I’m most passionate about the Alzheimer’s Alliance, which presents the Twice as Fine Texarkana Wine Festival each year,” he said. “I’ve seen how Alzheimer’s disease affects families. Proceeds from the festival benefit our local respite center, which gives families of Alzheimer’s patients a much-needed break.”

Along with his wife Cathy, Mark serves on the Alzheimer’s Alliance board. Cathy and Mark have served as chairs of the wine festival since it began six years ago.

A good forklift driver knows what each bay needs next, depending on where they are in the building process.

“Like a puzzle,” said Fred Gomez, forklift operator for the Trailer Shop. “I was the first dedicated forklift driver, and now four shops each have their own.”

Fred, who has worked at Ledwell for almost a decade, said he has learned many skills since he started at Ledwell in 2011.

“You have to be able to work as a team,” he said.

“As a forklift driver, there are times when an object is too bulky for just one of us to lift. It takes a team to move it properly.”

Fred said sticking to a routine is vital for keeping a shop running successfully and efficiently.

“When your team is set up for success, they will be happier, which makes the day go smoothly,” he said.

Fred and his wife Sandy have two daughters and one grandson. When he isn’t at work, he spends most of his time with his family and watching football. 

“Watching the Cowboys lose is a great day,” he said.

Family, Fred said, is what inspires him.

“Keeping everyone full and safe—that’s what’s important to me,” he said.

When Jim Greger started as Ledwell’s Information Technology Director 15 years ago, the company had just one server supporting its IT infrastructure.

“Now, we have over 25 servers,” Jim said. “Ledwell has grown. It just multiplies.”

Jim didn’t choose a career in IT—IT chose him. After high school, he earned an associate degree in engineering from Texarkana College, where he also pitched for the TC Bulldogs baseball team. Then, he went to work in engineering—in fact, he worked for Ledwell’s engineering department with Bob Nolte early in his career. Jim worked for several prominent corporations, including the Lone Star Army Ammunition plant and Rockwood International. He made the jump to IT while working for Smith-Blair.

“I started trying to automate processes that helped in rolling, bending, and cutting steel,” Jim said. “Once I got it to work, what normally took about four hours could be done in five minutes. After I started automating processes there, they wanted me to move into IT, and from that point, I stayed.”

Over 30 years later, Jim said he still enjoys IT work. And when he got the chance to return to Ledwell, he jumped on it.

“I love working here,” he said. “This is a family-oriented business. Working for corporations, they knew you by an employee number. Steve and Lesley know everybody, and they take the time to take an interest in their employees. That’s something you don’t get everywhere.”

Today, Jim has a team of four employees. When he started 15 years ago, he was the entire IT department. As for his typical workday? There isn’t one, he said. Workdays at Ledwell aren’t typical.

“I spend a lot of time managing the issues that come up on a daily basis, deciding which projects are a priority, coordinating with vendors, maintaining servers and network and phone system,” he said.

Jim has a son, daughter, and three grandsons. For the past ten years, he has pastored two non-denominational churches: one in Avery, Texas, and one in Dallas. Between Ledwell and pastoring, he doesn’t have much free time. When he does, Jim said he loves having the opportunity to travel with his wife, who has her own travel business.

For those who are starting their career at Ledwell, Jim has a few words of advice.

“One of the major things here is opportunity,” Jim said. “If somebody really wants to work hard and do their best, there are tremendous rewards. The heart of this company is the employees and their families. You can work here and just draw a salary if you wish, but we all have the opportunity to share in something bigger than just ourselves.”