trucks on their travels before ultimately
reaching California, finding a partner and
founding a company – Brown and Cross
Trucking– tohaul clay.
The small company began hauling rock,
sand and gravel in 1961, and, within five
years, Cross was the sole owner of the entity
– renamed as Bulk Transportation – whose
assets included one power unit and five dry
bulk trailers. Bulk celebrated its 50th
anniversary in 2008 at the company
headquarters in Walnut, Calif., and
“Founders Day” is noted with a similar
party every year.
And 56 years after the improbable start,
Cross and his family are still making an
impact.
“Mr. Cross is now 85 years old and still
going strong,” said Dwight Anderson, now
v i c e p r e s i d e n t a n d d i r e c t o r o f
logistics/marketing for the company Cross
c r e a t e d . “Ge o f f appo i nt e d Br e t t
Richardson as president and CEO and Jeff
Machado as vice president of operations in
March of 2014 to manage the business,
however Geoff does come into the office
most days and does attend all company
meetings.He’s still very involved.”
Cross’s daughter, Susan, handles the
company’s front desk, telephone and
internal communications as corporate
secretary; while his grandson, Geoff, joined
the safety department after graduating from
the University ofMontanaWestern and has
handled both driver training and dispatch
responsibilities.
The business has been a privately-owned
family operation since its beginnings,
which, Anderson said, allows for more
nimble reactions and decision-making than
the typical corporate structure.
“Working in a family business allows quick
decisions on companymatters,” he said.
“No need to go thru several layers of
management.”
Such a shift was evident in the late 1960s,
when the company expanded to haul grain,
feed, fertilizer and dry goods that required
the use of pneumatic trailers. Tank trucks
soon became the mover of choice for large
volumes of hazardous products like acids,
June-July 2014
| BusinessWorld | 29
