Team Member Profile: Lance Jones

With his recent promotion to Import Operations Team Lead, Lance Jones recognizes how much hard work and perseverance have done for both him and his clients since he joined Bestway International in 2020.

Previously a key account manager with responsibility for one of Bestway’s largest accounts, along with several others, Lance appreciates the fact that his diligence on this critical account was especially important in both growing that account and opening other opportunities for him within Bestway.

“I developed a pretty close relationship with the other operator there,” Lance recalls. “We actually became friends, which was helpful. It’s a challenging account, and I have really strong skills in communicating and relationship-building that go back to my days in retail.”

Those days in retail started at 18, when he served as manager of the Print and Copy Shop at Staples. In lieu of a four-year college degree, the Staples experience was a crash course in much of what he uses today at Bestway.

“I learned quite a bit about customer service and business there – how to work with people and take care of people,” Lance says. “You have to do six or seven things at a time and you have customers staring at you. I kind of learned at the time that I was very good at customer service, and I was able to parlay some of my skills there to utilize in the logistics industry.”

He followed the Staples experience with six years as a social worker, after which he entered the logistics field at Marisol International (now Ascent Global Logistics), where he worked with his now-Bestway colleague Jack McDonough – who brought him to Bestway in 2020.

In between, Lance worked for the large freight-forwarder OEC Group, which was a great experience and very different from Bestway.

“Bestway doesn’t have shareholders and we’re not a publicly traded company,” Lance says. “So we answer to ourselves, our customers and our owner, Jay Devers. It’s a company that puts its people first, and I think they have demonstrated that by how they take care of their employees – both financially and on a day-to-day basis – how we all respect and treat one another as a family environment.”

In his new position, Lance will work in tandem with Import Department leader Tiffany Perry, ensuring the smooth and customer-focused operation of the department – as well as training and overseeing account activity on an ongoing basis.

“I’m doing things that are not just me interacting with my customers, but also taking on responsibilities in how I help to manage the team,” Lance says. “There are things I’ve been honing throughout my career in various roles with different companies. But for me it’s kind of a never-give-up approach. No matter the challenges, you have to keep pushing forward – whether it’s working with your team or your client to help them get the results they need. I view myself as a very hard-working person with a do-whatever-it-takes-to-succeed type of mentality.”

It shows.