Baton Rouge, Louisiana (BRG) Terminal Manager Matt Notariano received the 2020-2021 Driving Safety Award. He was nominated by the Safety Department for his strong leadership and emphasis on safety within the workplace.

According to his nomination, Matt has been heavily involved in the quarterly Safety Committee meetings within his terminal, along with working to emphasize injury reduction and facility cleanliness in an effort to reduce workplace injuries. He truly exemplifies Saia’s core values and leadership in safety.

Matt joined Saia in 2011 as a city dispatcher in the New Orleans, Louisiana (NOL) terminal and has progressed within the company to his current position as terminal manager.

While Joe’s nominator said he is very proud of so many at the company, Joe stood out from the rest for several reasons this past year. He said that the crowded conditions that the MPS team had been working under, while still being a “proven solid performer” prior to their move  last year, were astonishing. He said the first time he visited the old terminal, he “somehow (thought he’d) entered the wrong gate. There was a solid mass of tractors and trailers with employees parking personal cars any space they could find. As Joe and I navigated the busy yard, not only was it clearly obvious why we were moving, I was discovering a whole new level of respect for what this manager and the team he has assembled were accomplishing every day…”

Aside from these everyday challenges, the nominator said that “in the months leading up to their move, MPS was seeing new highs in freight volumes. Capacity was becoming stretched throughout our network and MPS was facing its share of challenges with COVID-19 and equipment shortages.”

His nominator said he could go on to cite how evident the respect Joe’s team has for him, the other attributes he’s grown to appreciate about his leadership, etc., but his primary reason for nominating him was the monumental task that was involved in moving the MPS terminal.

“For seven weeks, Joe and most of his team, worked seven days a week. In addition to the thousands of tasks a manager completes every week, there was a move to a new terminal that required detailed logistical planning. There were meetings with contractors and constant internal communications with our real estate, properties and facilities departments.”

In the end, the move was a great success. In fact, many described the move as the least eventful one we have had. “That would never happen in the absence of great leadership,” stated Joe’s nominator.

‍