View from the top: family owned and employee driven.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg
• Position: ALASKA'S EXECUTIVES

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

James C. "Jimmy" Doyle, vice president of Weaver Bros. Inc., defies the adage against mixing family and business. Doyle's Fuel Service, started in Kenai in 1962, continues to operate. Doyle was washing trucks for his dad's business at 14, at 16, he was hauling fuel and in 1978, when he was 18, his father "Jim" purchased operating authority for Weaver Bros. Doyle attained an associate's degree in diesel technology and was a driver and dispatcher before becoming terminal manager in Anchorage.

ABM" How do you see your leadership role and challenge?

Doyle: My father (company President James H. "Jim" Doyle, 73) and I run this business together. Trucking in Alaska is very competitive. Our strength is in our people and diversity. We've grown from one to more than 150 employees.... Our turnover rate tends to be 5 percent or less.... At times more than half our employees have been here for more than 10 years; a decade back, more than a fifth of our l00 employees had 20 years. Our people stay. Many drivers who came up to work the pipeline in the early '70s have hit retirement age.

My father and I feel you should treat employees the way you want to be treated.

Training is a growing concern. Past culture in the industry was to work hard and get the job done; now it's first doing it safely.

Our other strength is diversity. We touch all corners of the trucking industry except the household-goods movement. We haul petroleum products, chemicals, reefer, flatbed and lowboy freight. We support the oilfield industry, road building and general construction. We also haul freight from the Anchorage port that arrives via the two major water carriers. We dray that freight throughout the Anchorage and Palmer/Wasilla areas to all types of retail locations. Rising operating costs--including fuel, insurance, utilities and capital investments--are also great challenges.

ABM: Leading in a family owned business presents joys and challenges ....

Doyle: My father's wife, Trina, and my wife, Sharon,--my mother, sister, daughters, cousin, and son-in-law--all assist in the business ... but don't hire people simply because they're...