Downshifting onto Retirement Road: President Charles Meyer (on left, with Emily Stoller, vice president of operations) will retire at the end of the year,marking a 39-year career with Glesby Marks.
If you choose to lease a car, most likely you’ll head to your nearest car dealership. But what if you need to lease specialty vehicles for your company, such as buses, refrigerated trucks or compressed natural gas vehicles? What if you want to lease a lot of them and you don’t want to deal with several different companies? Well, that’s when you head to Westchase District to do business with Glesby Marks.
Trick out My Ride: Upfitting trucks with specialized equipment like this one is the forte of Glesby Marks.
Relationships and Reduced Expenses
With locations in Houston, Denver, Phoenix, Portland and Seattle, Glesby Marks specializes in customized vehicle fleet leasing and management for companies’ transportation operations. “Our full line of services is designed to reduce upfront costs while delivering the best solutions for our customers’ needs, said Charles Meyer, president of Glesby Marks.
Meyer said some of those solutions include no down payments, fixed rate payments, management of licensing and title registration, GPS tracking and assistance in setting up driver safety programs for clients. “These all lead to reduced overhead expenses for our customers as well as maximum cost effectiveness.”
“We’re about establishing ongoing relationships with our customers, which allows them to enjoy access to the best options in the fl eet leasing industry, such as longer lease terms, regular maintenance services and upfitting of auxiliary equipment to meet client specs,” Meyer said. “We are the shock absorbers for our customers. Most companies don’t want to be in the trucking business. It’s up to us to absorb our customers’ aggravation and make it as seamless as possible.”
Diversity Defending Downturns
Formed in Houston in 1976 by Morris Glesby and auto dealer Jay Marks, the company originally focused on the rapidly expanding oil and gas industry in Texas and Louisiana. With the collapse of the oil market in the 1980s, the company learned to diversify to a wider customer base. “Our geographical diversity has allowed us to withstand regional downturns,” Meyer said. “We provide a lot of work trucks to clients in the construction industry as well, so we’re not reliant on only a few major accounts.”
The company moved to its current location at 10200 Richmond Avenue in 1997, a building currently shared with its landlord, Fuller Theological Seminary. “Our location allows us great access to our customers via Beltway 8. Plus, we have employees from Galveston to Sealy, so it’s a central location for them as well. “
With only 17 people handling a multi-thousand vehicle fl eet, Emily Stoller, vice president of operations, said it’s the responsiveness of the staff that sets the company apart from its competition. “Though we have larger fl eets, we excel at managing fl eets from 15 to 75 vehicles. Our truck experts are well-connected to outfit work trucks with special beds, toolboxes, ladders – whatever the customer wants. We’ve even converted trucks to run on natural gas.”
40 Years and Rolling
After 39 years at the helm of Glesby Marks, Meyer will retire at the end of the year. “While the fundamentals of the company won’t change, it’s time for a new generation to take things to the next level,” he said. Stoller said she believes that integrity and technology are the keys to moving forward. “Right now we collect a lot of information on our vehicles regarding fuel and maintenance. In the future, there’s a lot more we will do with providing those facts back to our clients in a useful manner to help them manage their fleets even further,” she said. “Selling service is one thing, proving the benefits of it with solid data is even better.”
