Cover Story

Dan Jones- Heartland Express, Inc.

Thanks to his hard work and dedication to his job, Dan Jones has risen to the very top of the trucking industry. He has driven professionally for 15 years, he runs as a driver/recruiter with Coralville, IA-based Heartland Ex-press, Inc., and he has just been named the company’s 2004 Driver of the Year.

Dan first got behind the wheel in 1991 after serving as a police officer in Missouri. “My uncle was running as a trucker at the time, and the lifestyle appealed to me, so I gave it a try,” he remembers. “It turned out that I love the industry, so everything worked out great!”

The young driver earned his stripes with a company that gave him a chance to sharpen his skills with a number of different types of equipment and loads, and then he hooked up with Heartland in 2002. “I saw their equipment on the road, and it always impressed me,” says Dan. “I was also pleased with the honest, straightforward information given to me by my Heartland recruiter, Scott Lee. I was satisfied that it would be the right career move for me, so I hired on right away. I’ll be here until I retire!”

The management at Heartland is obviously just as pleased with Dan to have awarded him with Driver-of-the-Year honors—a remarkable feat in a company with over 3,500 drivers on its payroll. He has been named Driver of the Month five times over the past two-year period.

Dan attributes his success to three important factors: setting achievable goals; hard, consistent work and a desire to treat people with respect. “I don’t like to argue, and I don’t like to give people a hard time,” explains Dan. “My parents and grandparents taught me to do my best and try hard at everything I did. ‘If you’re not going to do your best at something, don’t do it,’ I can remember them saying.”

As Heartland’s Driver of the Year, Dan will receive a leather jacket, a plaque and a nice check.

In addition to running hard as a professional driver for Heartland, Dan serves as one of the company’s roving driver recruiters. He has done an outstanding job in this role, also, and was named Recruiter of the Year in 2003. For Dan, the job is made much easier because of the terrific opportunities available at Heartland.

“I’ve mentioned the honest way that drivers are treated at the company, and I can’t emphasize that enough,” he says. “New drivers can also count on great pay, top equipment, comprehensive benefits and a home time policy that gets drivers home when they need to be there. Thanks to the lanes I run I get home every weekend, but regional drivers can count on getting home most weekends, and system drivers
will get home every 10 to 14 days.”

When he’s not offering award-winning service to Heart-land and its customers, Dan enjoys relaxing at home with his wife, Brenda, and his daughter, Ariel. He is also enjoys roller skating, martial arts and camping.

The staff of Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines would like to wish Dan continued success with Heartland Express.