Throughout the year, the Ritchie Bros. Women’s LINK Employee Resource Group promotes women’s visibility at Ritchie Bros. by showcasing real life experiences and stories through its Spotlight Series. In this edition, Margaret Dugan, Manager of Field Inspections – Northeast Region, takes us through her career journey at Ritchie Bros.
Success to me is climbing the ladder and learning as much as you can along the way. In my four short years at Ritchie Bros., I have been promoted four times and have learned a lifetime’s worth of knowledge about heavy equipment during my time here. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved which is why I like to brag about it as often as I can to my friends and family!
For me, the most fulfilling part of my job is keeping my team motivated and working towards advancement. As Manager of Field Inspections – Northeast Region, I manage all inspectors and inspection processes from Maine to Maryland, including two permanent sites in North Franklin, Connecticut as well as North East, Maryland. There is nothing more satisfying than watching the employees you train and work with daily achieve their career goals.
But interacting with our customers pre- and post-sale and hearing their success stories for both buying and selling is pretty amazing too. One time, I was sitting at dinner with a Ritchie Bros. shirt on and had a customer approach me and thank me for what we have done to support their business. Turned out he had bought many bucket trucks through us that kick started his business. What a great feeling to not only be able to help my Ritchie Bros. colleagues achieve their goals, but to be able to help customers achieve theirs as well.
My Ritchie Bros. journey
I started at Ritchie Bros. (RB) as the Equipment Inventory Clerk in North East, Maryland. I had previously attended multiple RB sales and there is nothing like the thrill of the auction, especially an RB one! After a year, I was promoted to Equipment Inspector where I learned so much in six months, at which point I became an Auction Coordinator. I’ll admit that role was quite challenging at first, but challenging situations are the best way to grow as a person and I had great colleagues pushing me towards success. That’s why, just one year later, I was promoted again to Equipment Manager of North East, MD.
Roughly six months later, it was announced the inspections part of the business was restructuring and becoming Ritchie Bros. Inspection Operations (RBIO). I interviewed for my current position and was very excited when I got the job. Settling into this role has been a journey, but what a rewarding one! I get to travel and connect with colleagues and customers from across RB, and it’s a great feeling to be a Regional Manager in a successful company that I genuinely love.
You can do it too!
I was lucky throughout my journey at RB to have such a supportive inspections team backing me, especially with the limited knowledge I started out with. I was also shown respect and treated as an equal from the beginning, which isn’t always the experience of women in the heavy equipment industry and other historically male-dominated industries. All of the inspectors I have worked with along the way have willingly passed on a lot of knowledge and words of wisdom to me that have helped me to make progress in and succeed whichever role I was in at the time.
I think women have a lot to offer in this industry. Particularly on the inspection side of things, our attention to detail can be very useful. Inspections are complicated and time- consuming, and when trying to do full inspections on equipment in a quick-paced environment, it’s easy to miss important little things that could cause a sale to collapse.
I’ve been at RB for over four years now and am honored to have seven full-time inspectors reporting to me in my current role. So far, I have truly loved and am grateful for all the experiences I’ve had here. And I’m very excited for the opportunities, challenges, and triumphs still to come!