Frito-Lay Inc. employee Beth Mars, manager of transportation optimization and technology for the company, earned the National Private Truck Council’s (NPTC) Certified Transportation Professional (CTP) Top Graduate Award for 2014. The award was presented by long-time award sponsor Fleet Owner during the opening general session of NPTC’s Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition held in March in Cincinnati.
To make the award even sweeter, Mars graduated at the top of the largest CTP class ever. Eighty-three people successfully passed the certification examination.
Mars and her team are responsible for the transportation planning, network efficiency and technology solutions for 31 traffic centers in the U.S. and Canada. She holds a B.S. in logistics and supply chain management from the University of North Texas. Prior to assuming her current role, Mars did a variety of other transportation-related jobs at Frito-Lay, including transportation network optimization, traffic center financial planning and performance planning, revenue backhaul sourcing, and common carrier procurement.
“On behalf of Fleet Owner, we congratulate Beth Mars on her achievement. Successfully passing the CTP test is a great accomplishment, however, finishing at the top of the class is truly an indication of dedication to her craft, ” said Jim Mele, editor in chief of Fleet Owner. “So it is an honor to present her with this award.”
Mars has been with Frito-Lay for eight years in a variety of mission-critical roles. Right now, she is managing routing for the company’s private fleet as well as for its outsourced freight transportation. She says she also enjoys lending a hand with employee training on best practices.
Like others who have earned their CTP, Mars used the Private Fleet Management Online program
(PFMO) to help prepare to take the written CTP exam. Mars, an occasional instructor herself at Frito-Lay, said she did not have to read every word of the PFMO, but instead used the program as a refresher and to help make sure she wasn’t overlooking anything important.
A joint project of Instructional Technologies Inc. (ITI or TREAD-1) and NPTC, PFMO is a five-volume e-book of more than 900 total pages covering all five core disciplines of private fleet management, including safety, security and compliance; human resources and workplace development; finance; fleet operational management; and equipment and maintenance strategies.
Mars said she did not expect to graduate at the top of her class, but she did “expect to hold my own,” adding that several CTPs at Frito-Lay offered her help preparing for the tough two-part exam. The exam includes a multiple-choice section and, what most graduates say is the “hardest part,” a case study.
Those who read Mars’ test might beg to differ with her modest assessment. One person who did have the pleasure of reading her case study says, “She just absolutely nailed it.”
“[Taking the CTP exam] was really time well spent,” Mars told Fleet Owner. “I am proud to have the certification and the Top Graduate Award.”
NPTC formed the Private Fleet Management Institute (PFMI), which manages the CTP program among other activities, as a nonprofit educational affiliate in 1990. The purpose of this group within NPTC has been to meet the increasing need for continuing education among NPTC members. Since the beginning, PFMI activities have been supported by contributions of NPTC fleet and allied members.
