Keith A. Koehler
Vice President of Quality & Business Development

AMSA-Certified Moving Consultant since 1981

Representing the following Bisson divisions:

Bisson Moving & Storage

Bisson I&R Commercial Service

Bisson Document Security

Bisson Transportation

LynxUS Logistics

Atlas Van Lines Agent

Moving Industry Experience

June 18, 1978 – Started as Mover’s Helper (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1979-1980 - Driver (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1981-1983 - Asst. Operations Manager/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1984-1985 - Office Manager (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1986-1988 - Branch General Manager/Sales (Bisson-Manchester, NH)

1988-1989 - Moving Consultant/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1989 - East Coast Regional Sales Manager (Bekins Moving & Storage, Glendale, CA)

1990 - Sales Manager (Central Moving Systems – Somerville, NJ)

1990-1997 - Moving Consultant/Sales (Bisson-Bath, ME)

1999-present - VP of Quality & Business Development/Sales (Bisson-Bath & Westbrook, ME)

Affiliations

American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA)

National Institute of Certified Moving Consultants (NICMC)

American Record Management Association (ARMA)

Better Business Bureau of Northern New England

AAA of Northern New England

Maine Association of Realtors

Merrymeeting Board of Realtors

Southern Midcoast Chamber of Commerce

Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce

Portland Regional Chambers of Commerce

Monarch Horse Farm, Treasurer

Community

Member of Shiloh Chapel, Durham, ME (secretary of Finance committee)

Member of Brunswick Rotary Club since 1988 (Past President 1996-97)

Past and/or current Board and/or Committee Member of Midcoast Chapter American Red Cross, Southern Midcoast Chamber of Commerce, Portland Regional Chambers of Commerce, Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, Southern Maine Business Group, Bath & Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Consolidation Committee, Maine Motor Transport Association, Brunswick Assets…

Junior Achievement In-School Volunteer Presenter – Mt. Ararat Middle School

United Way of Midcoast Maine – Presidential Cabinet Co-Chair for Commerce & Industry Division

Past Judge for Mt. Ararat High School Science Fairs

Past Judge for Brunswick High School Speech & Debate Tournaments

Motorcycle Marshall – Tour d’Merrymeeting Bay Bicycle Tour Fundraiser

Awards/Certifications

1981 - Tested and certified as a Certified Moving Consultant with the National Moving & Storage Association (NMSA), now known as the American Moving & Storage Association (AMSA)

1987 - Nationally recognized as 1 of 16 (out of over 70 nominees worldwide) recipients of a Young Executive Development Fellowship by the National Moving & Storage Association (now known as the American Moving & Storage Association in Washington, DC)

1988 - Bekins Van Lines “Circle of Excellence” Designation

1990 – “Arpin Accredited” Moving Consultant

1990-1997 – Numerous Bisson “Top-Dog” Sales Awards

1997 - Rotary International “Presidential Citation”

2008 - Brunswick Rotary “Service Above Self” Award

Education/Training

Primary education throughout the contiguous United States, Europe and Hawaii.

1975 Graduate of Brunswick High School, Brunswick, ME – Alumni Class Treasurer

1979 Graduate of New Hampshire College (now Southern NH University) – Business Administration

1981 - Graduate of Dale Carnegie Sales Program

1984 - Graduate of Dale Carnegie Management Seminar

1987 - Graduate of Xerox Professional Selling Skills III

2003 - Completed 1910 General Industries OSHA 30-Hour Course – Maine Department of Labor

2004 - Certified as a “Bullet-Proof Manager” presented by Crestcom

2004 - “Lead Like Jesus” Leadership Encounter presented by Ken Blanchard’s Faithwalk Institute

2007 - Certified Military Mover presented by Transportation Management Training

2007 - 2008 – Sandler Sales Institute – Sales & Sales Management Training

As an avid student of Quality Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Personal Development, I have attended numerous courses and seminars, read scores of books and listened to dozens of audio programs…and I still have a lot to learn!

General

Reside at Monarch Horse Farm (a full-service equestrian facility) in historic Durham, ME

Married to Laurie Koehler since 1979, Laurie is President of Monarch Horse Farm

Father of two beautiful, intelligent, creative and independent daughters in their mid-20s

Hobbies include: Family Time, Golf, Motorcycling, Masters Swimming, Hiking, Camping, Hunting, Jeep 4-Wheeling, Reading, Writing, Listening to Rock-n-Roll/Blues, Playing Harmonica

Philosophy

Having moved 34 times in 51 years it seems fitting that I spend my life’s work helping people with their moving experiences. After all those moves and 31 years in the moving business it would be too-easy to suggest that I “know it all”. I suppose I’ve learned a thing or two. However, I continue to learn from my customers and co-workers about how to fine-tune the many aspects of providing high-quality transportation services that benefits all parties.
Working for Bisson is much more than just a job for me. It is a passion I cannot escape, and I have tried! When I began at Bisson in the 1978, our founder, the late Lucien Bisson was often on-site, fervently instilling in all of us a work ethic that harkens back to 1919; an ethic that is not as prevalent these days. Mr. Bisson and his sons Richard and Francis often referred to themselves as “dumb French truck drivers”. I never agreed with that intellectual assessment of them. These guys grew up doing it all themselves. They knew the business inside and out.
As a young mover, I was teamed up with an older, well-seasoned master mover named Fred Milliken. He was a mentor to me. I’d like to share this one experience that sums up our relationship. One cold February evening after Fred and I had completely filled and emptied the moving van since morning, we were preparing to go back and to the origin location to load up the rest of the load that didn’t fit on the first trip. I was complaining that it was cold and dark, it was getting late and I was tired. “Why couldn’t we just tell the customer we’ll be back tomorrow to finish, or call for more help?” Fred’s reply, “This truck is needed for another job tomorrow. The office is closed so we can’t get more help. The customer needs to be moved tonight. It’s just the two of us and the furniture isn’t going to move itself.” The furniture isn’t going to move itself. Such words of wisdom. His words rang true then, and still do today. Whatever the tasks we have in life, things don’t get done by themselves or by hoping someone else might do them. Just do it!
Working for the Bisson family taught me a lot, including the rewards of completing hard work coupled with an honest, caring and positive attitude.
In 1990 Bob Cooper purchased the company from the Bisson family. As a well-educated, visionary Bob is well-suited to be the owner and President of Bisson. Under his leadership, the Bisson Family of Companies has enjoyed consistent success. After a decade of 440% growth and sustained profitability, in the early 2000’s the Bisson organization began to suffer from “growing pains” in the form of eroded morale and factionalism between departments. This was not acceptable to Bob. To remedy this situation, in 2002 he began crafting what we call Bisson’s “cultural revitalization”. Bob and I worked together to “align” the Bisson organization with the boundaries of our new culture. To most, this cultural revitalization represents the best thing that ever happened to Bisson, Bisson employees, Bisson customers.
Bisson’s culture shifted gradually to an environment of collaboration, teamwork, trust, personal accountability, and empowerment of Bisson people. Individuals who were unable or unwilling to adopt our shared Values were flushed out. Our improved culture attracted better people and enabled those who remained to become better and more effective leaders under our shared, timeless Values of Competence-Respect-Integrity-Stewardship-Service (our CRISS Values). We initiated a promise of “Service you can Trust from People who Care”. Every Bisson employee promises to try to deliver on this promise; internally and externally.
“Service you can Trust from People who Care” is not a slogan. It is a promise. Today, Bisson employees strive to make good on our promise everyday. In the rare event when we fail on our promise, we promise to fix it. This shared philosophy has translated into making Bisson a better place to work and do business. That’s easy to say. How do we measure this? In post-move survey data collected from over 8500 customers surveyed over the last four years, Bisson customers rate Bisson at 4.85 out of 5 points in delivering on our CRISS Values, and 97.3% report they would move with Bisson again. It really works!
There are a lot of moving companies out there whose owner’s and representative’s primary focus is profitability, too-often at their customers’ and employees’ expense. All other things being equal, wouldn’t you prefer to partner with a moving company that promises to deliver, “Service you can Trust from People who Care”?
Win, lose or draw, my job is to provide “Service you can Trust from People who Care”, and to make sure that every move is the very best it can be in the eyes of the customer and for Bisson. I am at your service.

Industry Links

	www.moving.org
	www.promover.org
	www.atlasworldgroup.com

Community Links

	www.maine.gov/portal/family/moving.html
	www.maine.info
	www.me.living.net
	www.mpbn.org
	www.brunswickrotary.org
	www.midcoastmaine.com
	www.portlandregion.com
	www.shilohchapelmaine.org

© 1999-2009 Bisson Moving and Storage.  All rights reserved.