Page 20 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Three generations of Peterson leadership in 1996; (L-R) Bill Doyle, Howard Peterson, Duane Doyle Sr.
HALTON: CLOSING THE GAP
Peterson’s third generation kicked off in 1995 with Howard’s grandson, Duane Doyle Sr. Where Howard’s era was characterized by explosive growth and Bill’s by tenacity and perseverance, Duane’s era would be defined by phenomenal growth and protracted bouts of economic depres- sion. Right out of the chute, Duane Sr. took on a huge risk with the purchase of a local rental com- pany—Cresco—setting Peterson on a new trajec- tory. And from there it has been one continuous ride, with highs of record growth and deep troughs of economic depression and belt-tightening.
The newest chapter in Peterson’s Caterpillar-ter- ritory expansion came in 2010 with the purchase of Portland-based Halton Co. On July 6, 2010, Peterson became a three-state Caterpillar deal- ership with its tenth territory addition of central Oregon into southern Washington. Financially, the timing was far from ideal, but the company’s commitment to growth prevailed. “In retrospect, Papé was just the initial piece,” states Duane Sr.
“Having only one part of the state didn’t work out too well. It wasn’t until the Halton territory came up—and Peterson consolidated all of Oregon un- der one company—that it started functioning well as a cohesive whole.” In the seven years between the acquisitions of Papé and Halton, Peterson Ma- chinery was able to upgrade its southern Oregon facilities and refine its processes so that when Hal- ton did come up, Peterson was ready to roll.
With over 1,200 employees across three states, Peterson needed to restructure once again. The previous three-company model—Peterson Tractor, Peterson Power Systems, and Peterson Machin- ery—had created silos. In 2011 Duane Sr. sepa- rated the chief operating officer responsibilities from his own position and tasked his new COO, Jeff Goggin, with unifying the entire enterprise into one team. It flattened the decision-making process for better response time and strengthened Peterson’s customer outreach, reaffirming its “cus- tomer first” priority. That freed up Duane Sr. to focus more time and energy on building customer relationships. To that end, he stepped up his ride- alongs with sales reps, connecting with customers on their own turf on a regular basis. And with over 100,000 square miles to cover, that was a lot of turf.
Duane Doyle Sr. with Ted Halton in 2010
18 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG