Building Trust and Embracing Change: Fleet Management at Gilead with SuYvonne Bell

In this Mile Marker Podcast episode, we speak with SuYvonne Bell, Senior Manager of US Fleet Operations at Gilead. Bell shares insights into managing Gilead’s diverse fleet of 1,000 vehicles across sales, IT, and facilities, highlighting her team’s focus on sustainability, safety, and adaptability. Bell discusses her fleet's EV pilot program, the drivers' range anxiety, and infrastructure challenges, emphasizing her commitment to driver support and feedback. A passionate advocate for collaboration, she values the fleet industry’s strong community and openness to innovation, leveraging events like AFLA to explore cost-saving strategies and evolving technologies.

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Transcript

Building Trust and Embracing Change: Fleet Management at Gilead with SuYvonne Bell 

In this Mile Marker Podcast episode, we speak with SuYvonne Bell, Senior Manager of US Fleet Operations at Gilead. Bell shares insights into managing Gilead’s diverse fleet of 1,000 vehicles across sales, IT, and facilities, highlighting her team’s focus on sustainability, safety, and adaptability. Bell discusses her fleet's EV pilot program, the drivers' range anxiety, and infrastructure challenges, emphasizing her commitment to driver support and feedback. A passionate advocate for collaboration, she values the fleet industry’s strong community and openness to innovation, leveraging events like AFLA to explore cost-saving strategies and evolving technologies.

Angela Simoes: Welcome everyone to the Mile Marker podcast. I am Angela Simoes, your host, and today our guest is SuYvonne Bell, Senior Manager, US Fleet Operations for Gilead. Welcome, SuYvonne.

SuYvonne Bell: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

Angela Simoes: And so fleet with Gilead, tell us a little bit about what that fleet looks like, types of vehicles, what you're doing and just what does your daily world look like?

SuYvonne Bell: So Gilead Science is a biotech pharma company. We're located in Northern California. I manage the US fleet and that is our field-based sales. And that is under commercial. So it's medical affairs managed market. It's all of them sales reps, their leadership team, and they all have fleet vehicles. They're considered field-based. And another small part of my fleet is our campus-based fleet. So like our IT and facilities manufacturing across the country. So I manage that fleet as well. We have about a thousand vehicles, so good size fleet, probably 1600 drivers total. We have our employee drivers, we have authorized drivers, we have our pool drivers. So yeah, that's my fleet.

Angela Simoes: And so I understand you've been in the fleet industry for about 10 years.

SuYvonne Bell: More so dedicated to fleet about 10 years, but prior to that many, no one says I'm going to go on Fleet. No one just comes up and says, I'm going to go a fleet. So I had a hybrid role. So it would be meeting management and fleet, like a car lounge program, which still takes time, but it's a different program than managing actual vehicles and what's on the road. And drivers. I've done project management and fleet a portion of fleet about 10 years ago is when I just went into a role that evolved into Pure Fleet and I loved it like Real fleet and I'm here to stay. Okay. You might've heard it on the ALA stage if you were there said Fleet is a life sentence. It absolutely is. I wouldn't change anything about it, so I love it.

Angela Simoes: So you mentioned AFLA. So we are here at AFLA in San Antonio, recording at the show. And so you were on stage. What were you talking about there?

SuYvonne Bell: No, no, I wasn't on stage. I was talking about we had our awards night last night.

Angela Simoes: Oh right, okay.

SuYvonne Bell: So there's won an award and they mentioned and they said Fleet is a life sentence. And we all agree with that statement, but I totally agree with that. It is that it's a life sentence, but I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. These are my people. I tell 'em that all the time. These are my people.

Angela Simoes: And so what is it that you love about Fleet? Because I will say as a first time ala attendee myself, this is a conference unlike any other because everyone is so happy to see each other. Half the agenda is just hanging out. It's networking. Networking and getting to know each other, which is nice because you don't get burnt out with session, session, session, but it truly has a unique vibe. But why do you love Fleet so much?

SuYvonne Bell: So I love Fleet because of the collaboration. This is the first industry I've been in where you can share everything. You can really share everything. You can really talk and crosstalk, you can learn. Everyone here is at different stages of their career with Fleet. So you have new people. And I remember being that new person that first time attending and having just people open their arms and say, come on in, listen to your ideas. There's not a silly idea. They can usually expand on it or they can point you, oh, you should talk to this person because they're into that. So that type of collaboration, innovation, it's always open. I know we talk about it a lot. You go to these conferences on stage, but innovation is everything. So you'll have a session at a conference or you'll attend a meeting or you'll be online a conference call or something like that and something will come up and you can just reach out to other people and say, do you know about that? Or This is my idea. And people will reach out to you. You have these impromptu calls with other fleet managers. I have 'em on my calendar all week and we just talk through things together.

So great learning curve.

Angela Simoes: So that very much tracks with something that someone else said in another interview where you can't do this alone.

SuYvonne Bell: No.

Angela Simoes: Right. So talk a little bit about, so with the fleet of a thousand plus vehicles that you manage, what are some of the maybe challenges but maybe just things that you're, okay, this is a trend happening and so we're trying to address it in the best way possible. And here's how we're doing that. I mean things are changing so quickly all the time. Technology wise, vehicle wise, what are some of those things that you're addressing now?

SuYvonne Bell: I think everyone we're working with sustainability. Sustainability and mobility. And a couple of years ago when this idea, it's really big and everyone's talking about it and it's a hundred percent electric tomorrow, it was basically kind of like the feeling and it was like, rah, rah, rah, rip and replace everybody at that time. That was very exciting for me. One, and what I would compare it to is I imagine before there were actual motor vehicles and everyone was in horses and someone in trouble with this model T cars. I'm like, what? There's no gas station. What are you talking about? I can just feed my horse, let it rest, keep going. And so that's kind of how I approached EVs. It's a learning curve. It was not like that. Sure. But again, it's exciting because it's something so new and I mean I'm in a pilot, it's learning, continue learning. But I talk to who are past the pilot, I've talked to people who have made it a lot further and it's just something that's just super exciting. That's just something new. And I look forward to seeing where it goes. I don't know, but I'm open to it. What are we going to do? What are we doing next?

Angela Simoes: Right. How have your drivers responded to the pilot?

SuYvonne Bell: That's a good question. I will say something. When you manage a fleet program and you manage drivers, and I'm specifically talking about pharma, that's been my side of fleet that I've always worked in. It may sound the squeakiest wheel is the most attention. So you can hear a lot about what doesn't work, but it really takes those surveys and those informal chats and sales meetings where you hear what does work. If everything is fine, you won't hear from you hear

Angela Simoes: Everything, right. Silence.

SuYvonne Bell: That's it. So that's the good thing about it. So with ev, it is a challenge. It's change management. It's a totally different perspective. Something that those in the field tell me all the time, and everyone who manages a fleet knows this. Their car is their office, their SUV is their office. So I want to address that. I'm here to support that. I see the vehicle. Yes, it is a perk that one side with hr, but it's also a tool.

Like their laptop. It's a big tool, but it's a tool. So what can I do to support their growth, support, what they do? How can I facilitate? So that's what I'm here for. And I tell 'em that all the time, but I also have constraints as well. So I have to work within those. So for EB pilot, I'd say the majority are like, this is great. We love the vehicle, we love the flexibility, we love how it drives, but you have others, this doesn't work for me yet, but they're still open to it. So that's the learning curve with sustainability. You say, okay, let's readjust. Let's look at the roadmap, make some changes.

Angela Simoes: And what are some of those things that aren't working? Is it like a range thing?

SuYvonne Bell: Range anxiety is number one. Number one, you have some people in the field who the majority of their visits or their appointments are closed, but they will have one or two outliers where you have to go a little further

Angela Simoes: And it takes some planning. If I know I'm going to go a little further, then I have to charge before I go. That sort of thing.

SuYvonne Bell: I have to charge when I get back, I find some place to charge infrastructure. As far as the country, it varies. So that's a challenge, but that's something that's not new to anyone who's on this path. That's what we figure out.

Angela Simoes: Yeah, I will say the whole planning part does take some getting used to, especially if you are driving longer distances. It's one thing if you have a deal with a particular charger and then where those charging stations are. But then if you're okay, if I go to a different brand of charger, are they going to have the right plug for me? So there is a bit of that. But yeah, it just takes a little bit of planning. But

SuYvonne Bell: I think what's bigger than that is how many charger are there? Are they working?

Angela Simoes: Is there line? Yes.

SuYvonne Bell: You know what I mean? Our generation, we're so used to, now there's four gas stations on every main corner in the city. Pick and choose which one you want to go to. We have a choice. With charging, it's definitely different. There's usually two to four, and if there's a line, then you have to wait, plus you have to charge and wait, and

Angela Simoes: Then you might be late to the appointment.

SuYvonne Bell: So that's a challenge, but it definitely takes planning and we'll get there. That's how I think about it. Whatever challenges come up, it gives us an opportunity to learn from that and learn from that feedback. I love feedback from my drivers. I love to see my drivers have meetings. I love to interact with them. Whatever I get from them is the feedback, and that's how I'm going to promote it internally. When I talk to my leadership, when I talk to my team, this is basically what I'm hearing. And then let's look at the data to back it up and how do we adapt, how do we adjust

Angela Simoes: To, and what are some of the things you're exploring to make those adjustments? So one thing that comes to mind is the public charging infrastructure can be limited as we've talked about just now. So is there the option to go to a fleet charging depot where it's reserved just for fleets, that sort of thing? Or is

SuYvonne Bell: It's not for us field sales, because all of our drivers take their vehicles home, so they're all across the country. So that's not an option. Like many companies, we do provide home chargers. So when a driver can do that, they have that option. But again, it still goes to range. You can charge all night, which is perfect. You a car should charge while you're sleeping, but they still may have a day where they're exceeding that range. Yeah, absolutely. So well, it's nice to hear that the drivers are open to, listen, this is not working right now, but hey, let's keep working on it. So at least there's that. And the people that I have talked to have said, even if there was some resistance to starting to drive electric, once they get behind the car, it's really fun. And so then they love it. And so then they're a little bit more willing to work with you and figure out what's going to be the best solution.

Angela Simoes: So what are some other issues that you're working on addressing with your fleet?

SuYvonne Bell: I think probably for any person, fleet professional safety is always key. You want everyone to get home at night. Driving that much obviously increases your chances of being tired and being tired, or being involved in an incident. So safety is always highest priority and something addressed on a regular basis. Every year we work with an external group and we have an initiative internally. It's driving change and driving change will focus on different parts of safe driving every year. So it could be just staying focused, attentive driving with the EVs, how to drive an EV was a really big thing when we launched a pilot. So we task them with, let's come up with a training module, let's really talk about how these drive, because they do drive different than a gas car. So things like that. So safety is probably top and it will always be a top. I mean with fleet, there's a lot of branches that come off, but at the end of the day, you want to take care of your drivers a hundred percent. Hundred percent. And their families.

Angela Simoes: Right, right. Excellent. And so when you look at the fleet industry as a whole, you come to a show like this and you hear the presentations and even in the conversations with the networking, what are you seeing across the board? What are the big hot buttons for folks as far as like, okay, this is what we're dealing, this is with now, but here's where we want to go, where we know we have to go. Is it, I think safety probably always comes up and new technologies, but what have been your like, okay, these are the top things that people are talking about right now.

SuYvonne Bell: So I would say, and it's cyclical. It goes in waves. I would say right now most fleet managers are looking at cost and we're looking at budget.

Angela Simoes: So how do we do more with less, with less, right?

SuYvonne Bell: That's it. And that should be always be our goal. But it just comes around. There's times. And so you really have to take a step back. And there's speaker here today, and I won't remember his name off the top of my head, but if you're too close to it, you kind can't see it. He said, so you take a step back and what can I do to still give the level of service, the level of vehicles to address all the other things like safety, but can I also take a step back and say, how can I spend that money more wisely? So I think that's a common thread here, is doing more with less. Less or at least trying to maintain because everything has gone up. This, we won't go into that, but everything has gone up, right?

Angela Simoes: I paid $12 for a cantaloupe the other day. Who knows? So I mean, how do you do more with less? For example, is it a different model car? Is it kind of negotiating charging rates? Is it,

SuYvonne Bell: It's just like I said, you take a step back. If prices would stay stagnant, then maybe you can continue to offer the same model. You continue to do what everyone else is doing, but take a step back, look around, you see what else is out there. And it's not only just a type of vehicle, but it's driving habits, it's fuel, it's hybrid, maybe it's not pure, maybe it's just increasing the MPGs on the vehicles. So it's looking at everything. It's looking at eligibility for a fleet vehicle. It's everything. Maybe it's, I say I'll call it diversifying your fleet. So maybe it's some people get a car, maybe someone elses a car allowance, and none of these things have been implemented, but you're exploring that. You have to explore them, you get the data. That's where networking as something like afla is amazing. You get a lot more information and you know who to talk to. And then it's really just collecting the data and putting it down so you can present it to your stakeholders.

Angela Simoes: And then what about on the fleet manager side? So from your perspective, are you looking at tools on how to maybe automate some of the more mundane tasks so that you could be a little bit more efficient and really focus on more business impact decisions and things like that? So on your side, what are some of the things that you're doing to improve how you do your work?

SuYvonne Bell: Right. Well, I think most of us have an FMC, right? The management company and what can be automated on our side is already automated. And then hopefully your FMC are supporting your initiatives and being there for you and doing a lot of that stuff for you that that's kind of like your team member, right?

Some companies, I'm sure have large fleet departments or they fall under different departments like procurement or something to that effect where there's a whole team. I'm under commercial, so a team of two. So having that support externally is great to do those type of things. I think, what's the rest of the question? Repeat the question.

Angela Simoes:  What are some of the tools that you use to, I guess make your job a little easier?

SuYvonne Bell: That's what I was going to say. Okay. So managing a fleet and managing our drivers. I'm not sure if there's something I said like a tool or a software. I think most of us use whatever's available are always open to more things. But when you're a fleet manager, you're a people person, fleet drivers count on you, they will call you. It doesn't matter. You can say, call your FMC. You want to direct them there. You may have an internal site where you have a lot of information, but sometimes the driver just, they want to talk to you. I get calls and they say, Hey, me, Sivan, can you just give me a call? I have a question. They don't want to send an email wonder. They're in a car. So they're not doing emails a lot, which is good. We don't want them doing that. It's better to just pick up the phone or I'm on speed dial and call me and they have my cell phone number. They drive seven days a week, holidays. I want them to be able to reach me if they need me. But yeah, sometimes it's really just being a people person, having them understand they may get information from the FMC, something may come and they just want to clarify that. Is this correct? You said I could order a vehicle. Yes, but you're going to get a temporary vehicle. You are in cycle. So it's really just being there. And sometimes it's just listening.

Sometimes it's just listening.

Angela Simoes: Well, it's developing the trust and you have the relationship and

SuYvonne Bell: Trust is key.

Angela Simoes: And that's another theme that has been very consistent in all of my conversations and here at ala. And so curious, let's kind of explore that a little bit. Do you think it's just sort of the nature of the industry and the people in it? Or are there sessions here at ale education sessions about how to be a good collaborative professional, do you think? Just curious because it seems to be a much more prevalent theme than in any other industry that I've been exposed to in my career where as you said earlier, it's collaborative, it's friendly, it's like, so do you think it's just sort of a natural thing or do you think there's been concerted effort to train fleet professionals to be that way?

SuYvonne Bell: I think those who join Fleet and stay in Fleet, I think it's just part of their personality. So it attracts those kinds of people. It attracts those. You want to stay. It gives you an opportunity to be supportive of your drivers. It gives you an opportunity to be strategic and be innovative and really take the lead on different initiatives that align with your company's goals. So fleas, in my opinion, fleet is always a small part of the overall initiative, whether it's sustainability, mobility, whether it's budgetary, whether it's operational efficiencies, fleet is a part of that. So how do I take my role and promote that, align with those goals and initiatives, and what can I do to be better? So I think when you're a fleet professional and you love it and you're here, that's part of it. But the other part of it's, you also get to be a people person. I'm not behind a telephone or a screen. I talk to my drivers. I know my drivers. I know who has five kids. You know what I mean? Of course I know who lives in an area in the city where they're like, I drive my car, I park it, and then I basically walk around because I'm in the city, I'm in Manhattan or something and I have to park here, and there's oversized parking charges. So I need something that's bigger, but not too big. You learn those type of things. And so whoever's in that role, you can be proactive. You can be, Hey, welcome to the company. The FMC is assigning a vehicle.

But when you get that call, you know what it's about. I can't tell you how many times I get a call and say, I want to talk to you. Well, I already know. And I'll say, Hey, you know what? I've been here. I'm at a conference, so I can't jump on a call. But I think you're calling about this. And I got an email from a woman, thank you. That's exactly what I was calling about. Thank you so much. Enjoy your conference. Can't wait to see you next time. So I think being able to do both of those is so enjoyable. I love it. I just do.

Angela Simoes: I mean, again, more than any other industry, it seems that this fleet just attracts people. People. Yes. You have to be a people person. You have to be a people person. And so here at afla, and you've been coming for a number of years, what do you usually hope to get out of the show at the end of the three days? You have a few takeaways, action items, and maybe specifically this show. What are you hoping to walk away with?

SuYvonne Bell: I think probably what I enjoy most about attending these type of conferences or even participating in task force or the board meetings or anything like that, is just having those counterparts so that if I'm working in the office and a team of one or two, is this just my experience? Is it only And then you come here and everyone is so open and collaborative, you're like, no, no. Okay. Other people share that just or this is also what's keeping them up at night. This is what's on the horizon. This is the plan. Oh, by the way, talk to this person because they've already gone over that hill. They're on the other side of it, and they have great insight. You got to talk to 'em directly. Let me introduce you. Also, coming here and learning about new services or new providers or whatever, oh, what do you do? You can get a chance to really sit down, explain your fleet and explain what they do, and let's have a conversation later. Let's just talk about it.

Angela Simoes: Right?

SuYvonne Bell: That's priceless. There's not an advertisement email or nothing that can substitute that in-person collaboration.

Angela Simoes: Agreed. Agreed. Has there been anything, whether it's here at the show or just in maybe the past year that's been kind of surprising that's happened in the fleet industry or really cool, maybe it's a technology, maybe it's just, I dunno, a partnership trend or I don't know, but has anything happened where you're like, huh,

SuYvonne Bell: That's a good question. I don't know if there's been anything that's really shocked me. I think I really enjoy observing the different trends. So like I said, two, three years ago, it was ev a hundred percent, hundred percent, a hundred percent go. Still very important. But I, I feel like we've moved away from just saying EVs, and it's like alternative fuel vehicles. It's sustainability. If you just say electric vehicles, sometimes you can shut down the conversation. You can totally shut it down. So approaching it that way and seeing how that has evolved. Three years ago you had a group over here that was like a hundred percent ev. It has to be, this is what's happening, global change, climate change, whatever. Other people saying it's never going to happen. And I feel like it's kind of met in the middle.

Angela Simoes: In the middle, right?

SuYvonne Bell: Those people who were never going to happen have made some changes because sustainability makes it, opens it up. So it could be route planning, it could be just changes to your policy. It could be the type of vehicle hire miles per gallon, and then you still have ev. People are like, I'm going to be a hundred percent ev. And you're like, holy moly, I don't know how you did it, but it's amazing.

Angela Simoes: Or maybe, okay, good idea, but let's roll it back a little bit and be more realistic.

SuYvonne Bell: Right? Yeah. I think that's what I say. So nothing totally surprising. There's nothing that's come out or I'm like, oh my goodness, we get the Jetson flying car next year. I'll be like, I'll come back and say, I've now been shocked. Right. I was totally shocked.

Angela Simoes: I have to say, I don't know that I really want to be alive when there's flying cars.

SuYvonne Bell: Well, according to the speaker, there's a company in, I think it's Sweden. They have something.

Angela Simoes: Well, I know they've been working on 'em for a long time, and they exist just not in mainstream. But I don't know, they just scare me.

SuYvonne Bell: You're not going to be the first person to try it out.

Angela Simoes: No, I don't think so. No,

SuYvonne Bell: I don't think I will either.

Angela Simoes: Yeah. Well, let's wrap this up with just a bit of a how your approach to life as far as we are in a tech world, we sit behind a computer a lot, even though we don't want it to only be looking at a screen. And so what are some of the things that you do in life to have some sort of balance or harmony as the main speaker from yesterday said, work-life harmony, whether that's going out for a hike or just stepping away and spending time with family. What are some of the things that you do to maintain a life balance?

SuYvonne Bell: Right. That's a really good question. And I still find that challenging. I think whatever I do, I always think about work, and I mentioned this earlier. I said, I give out my cell phone number and every company I've ever worked for, it's like, don't do that. They drive seven days a week. If they need to reach me, I want them to be able to reach me. There's only so much I can do.

Angela Simoes: They need to feel supported, right?

SuYvonne Bell: But I just want to be there. So it's a little bit harder. But I think most recently, and both of my children are grown up. I have one daughter still in college. My husband and I, we're not empty nesters, but we're empty nesters. And so now it's kind of like we travel. I've always traveled for work, but just actually us just traveling really travel for enjoyment. Enjoyment and just going off, even if we don't go far or we do go far, it's just really enjoying that time is amazing. Very nice. And then I love to read not only industry stuff. I mean, I read that stuff all the time, but just really just reading a book, just stopping to read a book. It's really hard. And I have to do it on my Kindle. I dunno if I can say that, but I have to do it on my Kindle. If I do it on my phone or something like that, and it pops, email pops up, it's a wrap. It's over. I'm done. I got to focus. What is this about?

Angela Simoes: I hear you. Well, kudos to you that you actually read because I have relegated myself to audio books.

SuYvonne Bell: I tried that, but I'm not in a car as much anymore. I mostly work from home. So when I was driving in, I listened to a book

Angela Simoes: For sure, in the car, for sure, in the car. Well, as far as travel, any recent destinations that you particularly loved or where you want to

SuYvonne Bell: Go? So the city that I love, and this may sound silly, but I love Chicago. I always gone for business. I just love Chicago. My husband and I recently went there, just like a little mini vacation. So it was really a lot of fun because usually when I'm there for work, I will go do something fun. But it was just me and him. We were in a car, we just drove all around. It was like, it's my favorite city. I know it's a Midwest. I compare to, it's like New York, but not New York. You can walk into a restaurant or a little place. We went to a place just recently, and I won't go too much into it, but they make the burgers at the bar.

I don't even know the name of this place, but everyone was friendly. They're like, you can order a burger from the back, but if you get it from the bar, it's better. And they're all just coming and talking to us. I was like, I love this. Where I would love to go. I've been to Amsterdam, so that was one of my bucket list things. I love Van Gogh. I got to go to the museum. So that was my daughter and I went for a 21st birthday. So it was a girl trip. Nice. Loved it. I'd love to go to Italy. Not sure what part. I just want to be

Angela Simoes: There anywhere. Just want to be there. I

SuYvonne Bell: Just want to just be in there. Just be that

Angela Simoes: The pasta there is next level. Yeah. I mean, it's nothing you'll, you'll never have pasta in the states like you will in Italy. It's delicious.

SuYvonne Bell: So wine and the view and the people, I just want to do that. So that would be my dream trip to go next.

Angela Simoes: Nice. Well, and to your point about Chicago, there's so many beautiful places in the United States that we just don't visit because I don't know, they're just not on the top 10 list or something. But I mean, one of my dreams is to do a cross country drive just for months. Not like a week, but just take my time and kind of hit every state as we go along. I got to retire, but there you go.

SuYvonne Bell: I did do a Alaska cruise a couple of years ago, and that was amazing.

Angela Simoes: Alaska, I've heard. Those are

SuYvonne Bell: Amazing. Amazing. I recommend that to anyone. Just do it. And I'm sure people fly there, but during a cruise you get to go to different parts just pulling up in this big ship and you're like, oh my God, it's amazing. It's beautiful.

Angela Simoes: Well, it's something that you don't see, that kind of landscape you don't see.

SuYvonne Bell: Right, right. Get a balcony. Get a balcony. So you can just sit outside your room with a cup of coffee.

Angela Simoes: Right. Well, we're going to start another podcast about travel. Okay. Alright, I'm in. This has been a lovely conversation. Thank you so much, Sivan really enjoyed it. And it sounds like you have built a wonderful fleet based on trust as well, so it's almost like a thousand fleet family, if you will. Right? Absolutely. It's really wonderful to hear that and I hope you enjoy the rest of the show.

SuYvonne Bell: Thank you so much, and thank you so much for having me. I love it.