BRUCE TROTTER

Vice President,
Long Island United Postal Service

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Born in Darby Township, PA, Bruce Trotter signed on with UPS as a part-time package handler in east Pennsylvania in 1970 as a way to help finance his college education. He attended Spring Garden College and Drexel University, majoring in mechanical engineering. His positions with UPS took him from Pennsylvania to Utah to Dallas to Kansas City, and points in between, working in operations assignments, industrial engineering, human resources, labor relations, and corporate marketing.

Before coming to Long Island, Trotter was the operations manager in the Metro Philadelphia District, one of UPS's seven domestic air hubs. With over 9,000 employees, this hub services over 200 international points around the globe. In May of 2000, Trotter was promoted to district manager for the East Long Island District, and under his leadership, the district won the Enterprise Excellence Award based on its number one ranking in performance production, service and overall operational excellence, among the 59 districts in the country.

In 2003, the East Long Island District merged with Brooklyn and Queens, forming the new Long Island District, and Trotter was named vice president. He manages a service area that stretches from the Verrazano Bridge to Montauk, and has a staff of 5,500 (6,200 during the holiday season) who pick up and deliver 450,000 packages a day for 30,000 customers.

"When you pick up and deliver that many packages, your people are in every neighborhood each and every day," says Trotter. "Our workgroup is diverse and fits into the communities we serve. Our drivers see first hand who is in need within our community." This is why the slogan What Can Brown Do For You? has a deeper meaning to Trotter than just people helping people with packages. It's people helping people, and Trotter plays an important role in channeling his employees' community commitment. Most of the organizations and groups that UPS assists come as recommendations from employees, and a special committee of employees evaluates the numerous organization appeals. UPS focuses support for organizations targeting education, literacy and volunteerism, and is continuously increasing its volunteer hours through its Neighbor-to-Neighbor program.

Trotter quickly rattles off some of his employees' community interests including Island Harvest, The American Heart Association, Federation of Education and Guidance Services, The Lighthouse Mission, the South Queens Boys and Girls Club, and collecting toys for children in the Pederson-Krag program. UPSer, as they call themselves, are busy year round assisting nonprofit organizations. The UPS newsletter and internal communications vehicles inform employees of upcoming events such as the Walk to Cure Diabetes, Light the Night Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma, Walk to d'FEET ALS. Trotter expresses support and attends most events.

Some 300 UPSers wearing their "You Can Make A Difference" company t-shirts participated in last summer's JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. Many employees donate their time in the Long Island Teen Challenge program, helping young people apply for jobs in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and UPS also reached out to parents during the development of Megan's Law.

With Trotter's support, the Long Island District presented Angela's House, in East Moriches, the only Long Island residential program serving medically frail and technology dependent children, with a grant from The UPS Foundation in the amount of $100,000. UPSers continue to work with Angela's House as "concerned friends" supporting its mission.

Each year, UPS hold its "Day on the Job" in which high school students visit any of six different facilities and spend the day shadowing UPS workers. The most popular site is JFK airport, where UPSers stress the importance of math skills on the job, calculating weights to ensure packages are equally balanced inside airplanes and adding up the amount of fuel the airplane will use. Employees participate in many local school Career Day activities.

Known for its tracking system, Trotter points our that "UPS was the only trucking organization allowed to bring food and clothing to ground zero workers after the World Trade Center disaster." UPS also developed a tracking system for the New York City Marathon and the Cow Harbor Race, whereby runners at the starting point put personal articles into bags that UPS volunteers transport to the finish line and safely return to their owners via tracking labels on the package.

Trotter says he was inspired to become involved in community service by his mother, who raised four children and taught him the value of giving back, and this philosophy dovetails with UPS's 96-year company culture of building strong and viable communities.

For the past 25 years, Trotter has been an active member of United Way of South Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Urban League and 100 Black Men. He joined United Way of Long Island in 2000, and under his leadership, Long Island UPSers contributed more than $265,000 to United Way last year. This year the amount was over $500,000. He also co-chaired the UPS Northeast Region campaign, which raised $4.7 million.

Two years ago, he became the United Way campaign chairman, carrying the important message of corporate giving to other companies. "Being a vice president at UPS gets me through the door. With such a generous reputation, many companies are interested in benchmarking or learning more about how UPS generates awareness within our workforce," says Trotter. Last year, the United Way effort raised $9.5 million for its 181 member organizations. The new goal: 10 million dollars.

"For the last 20 years, UPS and United Way of Long Island have come together to build stronger communities by touching the lives of many Long Islanders in need," Trotter comments. "It is so important to join with your neighbors, co-workers, family and friends to be a catalyst for change in the community."

Trotter, who lives in Setauket with his wife Cheryl and two daughters, says he is "honored and inspired" to be among this year's David Award winners.