Compass Coach Inc . operates 23 full size motor coaches from its home office in Cedar Springs MI and 6 full size motor coaches from its secondary garage in Mt . Pleasant , MI . Up until March 13 , 2020 we employed 57 wonderful and brilliant motor coach drivers , sales staff , administration staff , cleaners and technicians .

With our annual mileage of 1,165,000 in 2019 , my company transported over 1,400 trips to everyone from youth groups traveling to camp in Colorado , semiprofessional local sports teams , high school athletics , university / college teams and departments , churches and local tour operators to every part of this wonderful nation one mile at a time . We have grown our business every year with more safely traveled miles and more groups to places yet to be discovered .

My journey in the motor coach world began with a younger , very naive version of myself . Unlike my husband , Trenton , who grew up in the tourism and travel industry , I had only ridden a bus three or four times prior to February of 2000 . In February of 2000 , after my husband painted a beautiful picture of being an owner / operator of a motor coach company I agreed that it would be “ nice ” to set our course on being entrepreneurs . “ Why not ,” as I explained to my parents “ we don ’ t have any kids , we don ’ t have any debt and we are not settled into the community .” The funny thing about this statement is that by the end of February , we listed and sold our house in 36 hours , I found out I was pregnant and Trenton had quit his job as a marketing director in exchange for a $ 5,350 monthly bus payment for a bus which we had no business . But , we had already cashed the $ 10,000 Citibank check we received in he mail …. you know the one with the 24 % interest … and headed to Chicago to pickup up our slightly used but shiny VanHool T2145 . We simply had to make this work .

During the first 10 years , I was the bread winner for the family , working for the State of Michigan as a parole agent during the day and helping my husband answer and return sales calls at night and on weekends while he was driving . During these initial years , I also

learned to plan and operate group tours which I found enjoyable . 10 years ago I decided to end my employment with the state and take a bigger interest in our motor coach company . We had just 2 years earlier , moved into our brand new bus facility which featured 15,000 square feet of office and maintenance space . By this time we were operating 15 coaches and had 2 full time staff members and a full time technician . It was apparent that to continue with positive growth , someone needed to take the reins on the most important aspect of busing …. the safety aspect . I placed myself in charge of Safety and became the DER for the company , with an emphasis on the driver qualification files and and mounting FMCSA regulations that accompanied them . I found this position within my company challenging but rewarding since I am detailed oriented to an unhealthy level as my husband has mentioned to me many of times . I have also not given up group travel and am celebrating my 20 years as a successful tour operator .

Over the past 22 years , I can contribute part of our success to ABA and UMA networking and annual events that have provided on-going learning and the wonderful relationships we have had with our industry partners . The other part that has made us successful is the contributions that our staff has made . Late night phone calls and early morning departures makes this industry never boring and ever changing .

Having looked back , I am proud of the women who have made a positive contribution to Compass Coach . Just to mention a few : Our GM Gwen Scalici who has been with us since 2009 and running the day to day operations to Janet Jaglowski our dynamic sales director . Jamie Lukas is the most caring and effective dispatcher we have ever had . Our cleaning crew has been led by Linda Pinks for the past 4 years and the numerous women motor coach drivers who constantly bring polish and professionalism to their field .

I look forward to many more miles and years ahead in this industry and will always provide an opportunity for women in the motor coach industry .

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