Profile: Dan Hall

NEW POSITION: Operations manager, Sudduth Relocation Systems, St. Petersburg

PREVIOUS POSITION: General manager, Cord Moving & Storage, Memphis.

Having worked 12 years in the moving business, a career move has brought Dan Hall back to Florida.

Hall joined Sudduth Relocation Systems as operations manager Oct. 30 and says he's glad to be back in the state.

With a staff of 10 full-time employees and 80 or more drivers, movers, loaders, packers and helpers, Hall oversees local and long-distance dispatching for Sudduth's commercial moving household goods division. That includes all warehousing and distribution, safety and risk management, driver recruiting and retention -- even quality review with customers -- for the West Coast of Florida.

The focus on commercial clients means that some accounts involve ongoing, routine moves "as well as some one-time moves," Hall said. For example, Sudduth recently moved four floors of office equipment and files for the 800 employees of the Pinellas County Health Department. It was a 30-day job, he said.

Hall also oversees sales representatives who go out into the field to give moving and storage bids. "Not everybody is a great estimator," he said.

That's where the "factor of service level comes into play," he said. "The reputation of the company is a big factor in who people will choose to move them. It's not always the price. Service does play into it."

Sudduth Relocation Systems is a leading mover of household goods, facility moving and warehousing and logistics services and is a subsidiary of the Sudduth Cos., which operates 16 locations in the United States with more than 1,200 employees, and handles more than 40,000 shipments annually.

Hall got into the management level of the moving business in 1990 when he joined North American Van Lines at its corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne, Ind. In 1995, he left to join the Beltmann Group in Chicago, an agent of North American Van Lines, and worked in other locations over the next several years, including Pompano Beach, then finished his 12 years at the company with another of its agent operations, Cord Moving & Storage of Memphis.

"I've anxiously been looking for an opportunity to move back to Florida," Hall said. "Having grown up in Indiana, I really got sick of the weather. I like this side of (Florida). It seems more Midwestern to me. I prefer the pace of life over here."

Hall, 40, graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in management. For the next six years, he worked as a regional manager for a home furnishings rental company before getting into the moving and storage industry.

Hall and his wife, Lisa, are relocating to Dunedin with their two dogs.

An avid professional football fan, Hall said he still roots for the Indianapolis Colts.

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