Our History

I grew up in a family feed business on the Eastern shore of Maryland, where my family would grind feed for farmers with cows, pigs and horses in the area.  When farmers began turning to more row crop farming, we started a commercial application business with 3 John Deere Hy-Cycles Model 734.  From that upbringing, I decided to pursue my eduction in Agricultural Engineering at Clemson University.

I started working for John Deere in May of 1977.  I spend my first job in the service department learning from many of my early mentors, allowing me to gain territory experience.

After some time in the service role, I moved to a product specialist job helping with the intro of the John Deere 50 Series Tractors.  I spent most of my team in the field moving around the branch assisting all the territory managers with shows, demos and selling tractors.

I was given the opportunity with John Deere to manage my first sales territory in Vermont, covering all of Vermont, Northeast New York and 2 dealers in New Hampshire.

After my time in Vermont, I was given the opportunity to come back “home” to the eastern shore and manage a new sales territory, covering Southern New Jersey and the entire Delmarva Peninsula, for John Deere.

After 15 years on the manufacturer side of the business, in 1992, I formed a partnership with Jones Implement to create Queen Anne Tractor, after purchasing Chaires Bros. in Queen Anne Maryland. My team had many success stories in QA winning 7 Manager Club Awards. Growing the business from 3.3 million as Chaires Bros. to over 20 Million by 2001 as Queen Anne Tractor.

In 2004, after 12 successful years of running Queen Anne Tractor, the owners of my old John Deere sales territory entered into a merger to become the largest dealership group at the time, Atlantic Tractor with 12 locations servicing the states of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

In 2016, myself with the other stakeholders sold our majority interest in Atlantic Tractor to it’s current owner.  Since, I’ve helped manage the negotiation and acquisition of 4 territories and 10 store locations.  With the consolidation of stores, Atlantic Tractor currently sits at 18 locations serving Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington DC.

Launched Big Bear Consulting Group to share my experience and expertise in leadership, sales, coaching and culture within the equipment dealership community.