40 AT 40: Leonard Cox
Job Title: Logistics & Safety Director

The people are what sets Bandit Lites apart from the rest of the industry. Once a week, for 40 weeks, Bandit will showcase an employee that has made a substantial contribution to the company, whether it be in an office, on the road or somewhere in between. Bandit would not be celebrating its 40th Anniversary without the hard work and dedication of every one these employees.*

*Employee Spotlights are released in no particular order.

Leonard Cox started working for Bandit to help out in the technical services department because he had a background in electronics. Fifteen years and several promotions later, he is now the Logistics and Safety Director. Here are a few questions we asked to get to know him a little better.

Q. What is your title? Please describe your job responsibilities.
A. My job title is Logistics & Safety Director. It’s a two-fold job. The first is logistics, which is moving equipment from place to place. Safety includes everything from ensuring safety of all our personnel at the shows, in the facilities, even down to the office people.

Q. How did you get involved with Bandit Lites?
A. I got involved because of my electronics background. When Garth Brooks’ first tour was going out, a guy that worked here was a friend of mine. He knew about my electronics background from when I was in the military. He said, ‘this company I work for needs an electronics guy. Would you be interested?’ So that was my introduction to Bandit. I started working in the TSD department. My wife and I owned our own real estate business so I was doing this more for fun. It was great to come in and get to go to a show for a few days. I’d go fill in on shows so I wouldn’t stay on one tour for more than a few days. It was around that point that Michael [Strickland] and I got into inventory control. One of the things I did in the military was inventory control of equipment. I told Michael that he needed to get an inventory control system so he knew what he owned and where it was at. So for about the first eight years I worked here, I helped develop and implement inventory control.

Q. You have mentioned the military several times in this interview. How did that experience influence your work ethic?
A. I was in the military for 25 years before I started working for Bandit. I keep referring to my military background, but really, other than Bandit, that’s all I know. Because the military was really big on safety, I push safety. To my knowledge, Bandit was one of the first companies to require their employees to use fall protection. We made it a rule that if you’re going to be on our equipment, you’re going to wear fall protection. So about eight years ago, inventory control was at the point that I was able to delegate responsibility and I transitioned to Director of Logistics and Safety.

Q. What is the best part about working for Bandit?
A. Everybody that knows me knows how I feel about people. The one thing that drew me to this company was (besides living the “rock star” lifestyle) that Michael [Strickland] does believe in what he’s doing. This may sound corny but he’s got a good heart. We have great benefits, this is a great company to work for and he really gives back to the community. The things that Bandit does for its employees and for the community really impressed me a lot. Something that a lot of people don’t know is how much this organization gives back. There isn’t a lot of hype around that and it really proves to me that he’s doing it all for the right reasons. That’s what really attracted me to working here. I was doing great in my own company, with my own business, but I just wanted to be a part of it because I saw him doing good things for other people.