Editor’s note: Since this article was first published in July, Ernie Garcia won the Fleet Visionary Award at the 2024 AFLA Conference in San Antonio. We congratulate Ernie on this well-deserved honor and are excited to revisit this peek into his life, both on-the-job and at home.
By Tod Trousdell, Marketing Consultant
September 19, 2024
We continue our Fleet Professional Profile series with some thoughts from Ernie Garcia, Director of Fleet and Business Systems at Gothic Landscape. A rising young star in fleet, Ernie served on one of the featured panels at last year’s AFLA conference and is quickly making a name for himself in the industry. Here’s a look at his thoughts on some of key issues facing fleet.
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing fleets in 2024?
Clean fleet mandates are probably the biggest challenge. Compliance is aggressive, and a lot of technology isn’t where we need it to be to meet these expectations. We strive to hit these targets, but until we see some advancements in the industry, our progress will be hindered.
Looking at the industry today, what excites you most about fleet?
There is always a new path to take, or new ways to approach an issue. Every fleet is different and discovering solutions for our challenges is what gets us out of bed in the morning.
What about the fleet industry keeps you up at night?
The safety of our team members. We always want to make sure they return home the same way they came in. We strive every day to make sure that happens.
How would you compare the industry before Covid vs. today?
The obvious answer is rising costs, but I think the less common response is the quality of service and products. We have some partners that go above and beyond for us. But some of our fleet managers struggle in other areas to get responses. It becomes a time-consuming process.
Now, we are doing our best to make sure we create long-term partnerships with vendors who provide an excellent customer service experience for our team members. Those relationships really mean a lot to us.
What is the one thing you want us to know about the fleet industry that we haven’t asked you about?
We are in an industry that is the backbone of the organizations we service. We strive to not only keep people safe but remain in compliance with regulatory agencies, keep costs at a minimum, purchase well, maintain vendor relationships, manage budgets, and think of creative solutions to challenges. It’s an ever-changing industry that I am honored to be part of. It’s not what I set out to do, but I am happy to have found my way to it.
And now, Ernie Garcia answers our Lightning Round questions…
Birthplace? Los Angeles
Family? Wife, Daughter, a mini schnauzer, and a Frenchie.
Years in fleet? 5+
Favorite food? Mexican
Favorite music? Oldies, or Alt Rock
Favorite color? Gothic Blue!!!
Favorite pastime? Golf
Favorite Show? Yellowstone
Superpower? Teleportation
Dog or cat? Dogs.
Fleet Pro Focus is a series compiled by Marketing Consultant Tod Trousdell of RobertsTrousdell Communications who along with his partner Kathi Roberts has been helping customers in the fleet, hospitality, sports, and technology sectors for more than 23 years. He can be reached at [email protected].
