Kim “KC” Campbell has flown more than 100 missions in combat and clocked 1,800 hours in an airplane, including in combat situations. Part of the reason she’s still here to talk about some of those situations, she says, is because of the team she had supporting her.
At Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week 2025 Jan. 20-23 in Grapevine, Texas, she will talk about what she calls “wingman culture,” identifying and relying on relationships and allies to find success. Campbell says she knows the majority of the people in the room aren’t pilots, but she wants to give them a look into a successful pilot’s experience.
“I want to bring you inside the cockpit with me,” she says, stressing successful missions, both in the plane and on the ground, rely on being credible and capable.
“Be good at what you do,” she says. “Build relationships and allies, people you can count on and you know will have your back.”
HDAW co-chairs Michael Keller, vice president of Category Management and Sourcing at FleetPride, and Jean Gregoire, president of Marmon Heavy Duty Brakes Group, say Campbell is the perfect keynote speaker to prime aftermarket leaders to “Brake New Ground.”
“We believe her story resonates with the decisions we need to make every day, often hard decisions and quick decisions,” Gregoire and Keller say in an email. “We knew she would make a connection with our audience.”
With the aftermarket’s ever-changing circumstances, the co-chairs say they hope Campbell makes a connection with HDAW attendees.
“Despite uncertainties in the future of the business, the ability for leaders to make decisions and react quickly in a changing environment can support positive outcomes,” Gregoire and Keller say.
Campbell says change and uncertainty can feel overwhelming, but she hopes to help people prepare so they’re ready for it and are better equipped to handle the change when it arrives, even if they don’t have perfect information. She also hopes to help people learn from their experiences.
“We want to be able to look back and learn from it,” Campbell says. “We will continue to face challenges and change and adversity throughout our lives.”
Gregoire and Kelly say Campbell’s experiences show teamwork is key, and peak performance as a leader takes courage, the ability to work through adversity and resiliency. Those will be critical skills as the aftermarket — and heavy-duty trucking as a whole — continues to evolve.
“We see continued growth in the aftermarket,” the co-chairs say. “Electronic transaction growth will be a part of our daily lives. Growing complexities will require organizations to be dynamic. In the coming years, our ability to service the customer will remain an important part of our success.”
Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week will run Jan. 20-23, 2025, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. For more information about the conference, and to register, go to the event website. TPS will have more about HDAW’s keynote speaker and new event features in the weeks leading up to the event.
