Page 454 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Left to right: Family & friends celebrate Erin receiving the CFO of the Year award in San Francisco in 2019; Erin with husband, Chase Sorgel
In 2018, Erin also handled the financial details for the purchase of Brattain International (Trucks) in Portland, Oregon. “These projects start in Finance and Operations long before the actual sale. You have to determine if it’s a good business to buy. You do all of the financial modeling, the due dil- igence, check financials and run through different scenarios. My dad did a lot of the front-loading negotiation for the actual purchase. I did the mi- nutiae negotiation and execution.” Even with all that careful planning, just before move-in there were a few issues that had to be worked out. “This was the first acquisition we’ve ever done where we didn’t have to borrow any money,” says Erin. But Cat Fi still had some say-so since they were Peter- son’s bank. The day before the big weekend move, Cat stopped the process because of some missing legal language for an amendment they required. And that set Erin’s determination into fourth gear. “We had spent thousands of hours preparing for this day and I wasn’t going to let that happen.” In- stead she got on the phone, got the language nailed down and got it worked out. “I’m very proud of our Brattain purchase because of all the planning that went into it which made it go off so well. Not only did we buy a business in a weekend, but we put them on a new computer system so we were able to sell a part that Monday morning at 7:00 am. The amount of work that went into that and all
the planning and teamwork across five locations— it was just incredible what we pulled off.”
A year later, Erin was named CFO of the Year in the San Francisco Bay Area for a non-public com- pany. The Hillsboro and Brattain deals were two signature projects that helped earn that award. It was a big moment at the presentation, which her family and team members attended. “I was there, and I couldn’t have been prouder if I was her dad,” says Goggin. Bill Bean, VP/GM of Peterson in Oregon and Washington, concurs. “When I read about that in the company newspaper, I found myself grinning from ear to ear because she’s so deserving. She’s a breath of fresh air in meetings, she’s pretty humble and always positive. And the people that work for her up here in Oregon think a lot of her. She gets out and mingles with people really well. And that makes people want to go the extra mile.”
“For me, Erin is a unique combination of drive and determination and compassion,” says Ed Rapp. “She just gets things done, and she relates to peo- ple at all levels of the company. Through the years, Peterson has always had a stretched balance sheet. I am very confident that when Duane Jr. and Erin’s reign comes to an end, Peterson will be financially stronger that it’s ever been.”
452 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG