Driven By Purpose

Six alumni apply the skills they acquired at George Fox to fuel innovation, build teamwork and demonstrate integrity at Daimler Truck North America By Sean Patterson

Six professionals. Six distinct roles. One common link.

Such is the case for George Fox alumni William Burton, James Pena, Alex Bush, Vicente Torres, Kelsey Ferry and Tony Long, each of whom has found meaningful work at Daimler Truck North America, a Portland-based company that’s one of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers.

Their roles vary – from engineering and product leadership to human resources and talent acquisition. What connects them is a conviction that their work matters and an alma mater that prepared them for the rigors of the professional working world.

Here are their stories.

William Burton, Mechanical Design Engineer

For as long as he can remember, William Burton has always been a tinkerer. His self-confessed hobby as a child was taking things apart and putting them back together again – usually correctly, he insists. A natural curiosity over how things work developed into a love of problem-solving.

It’s no wonder, then, that he finds himself at Daimler as a mechanical design engineer, responsible for new product development. Specifically, he designs fuel tank systems for a wide range of vehicles, from long-haul semitrucks to medium-duty delivery trucks and specialized vocational equipment.

His arrival at Daimler in 2021 fulfilled his dream of working in the automotive space – without the need to relocate to the traditional industry hub of Detroit. Portland’s Daimler plant offered that opportunity and gave him the chance to take his innate love of puzzle-solving and apply it to his daily work. His latest focus: strategically planning the streamlining of the company’s fuel tank options across product lines.

“The real joy of this job is seeing my designs come to life, out of CAD [Computer-Assisted Design] and into the physical world,” he says. “First in validation, then in production, and finally on the road, seeing my design work manifest into a physical part never gets old, although my wife might get tired of me pointing out components I’ve designed on trucks we pass on the highway.”

Burton, who earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from George Fox in 2016, says it was the hands-on experience embedded in the program that paved the way for a successful career at Daimler.

“The small classes we had at Fox really lent itself to a strong engineering program,” Burton says. “Particularly, we got a lot of shop time. We got a lot more hands-on work that I don’t necessarily think you could get at some of the larger schools. From day one, in the first class, you’re in the shop working on things with your hands. I think that’s really critical for an engineer.”

Alex Bush, Senior Engineer

Even before he graduated with an engineering degree from George Fox in 2011, Alex Bush seemed destined for a career at Daimler. In his final year, he was part of a Senior Design course team that worked on equipping the company’s wind tunnel with a turntable, allowing the vehicle to rotate for crosswinds testing. Two months after graduating, he was hired full time.

Today, he’s a senior engineer, responsible for collaborating with third-party engineers to configure vehicles for specialized uses, from dump trucks to sewer and hydrovac systems.

“Unlike passenger cars, which are very cookie cutter and can be built robotically, all our trucks are hand-built and hand-assembled because every one of them is unique,” he says. “We’re able to customize and configure trucks specifically to the needs of those upfitters that are going to be adding equipment.”

It’s the culmination of more than a decade growing into a leadership role that blends technical expertise with mentorship. In addition to ensuring designs meet both customer needs and production efficiency, as the senior member of his team he trains young engineers and contributes to long-term strategy.

Bush comes about his love of vehicles honestly. His parents owned an auto repair shop, instilling in him a love of cars and a desire to work on them. Later, when it was time to consider colleges, he discovered a George Fox engineering program that offered small, personalized classes and integrated faith into the curriculum.

“I considered other schools, but once I checked out Fox I knew that is where I was supposed to go,” he says. “Once there, we really felt like a family, working together late into the night in the labs. The small class sizes lent itself to a lot of personal relationships with all the professors. I remember going to one of their houses for a potluck – not the kind of thing you’d experience at a larger school.”

Even today, his George Fox experience – and his church upbringing – speak into his work.

“The lessons I learned from my parents and that were emphasized at Fox – things like integrity and being someone who is true to their word – are things I try to practice every day,” he says. “That’s how I see my work connecting to my faith – being someone who can be trusted to do a good job and do right by those around me.”

Vicente Torres, Product Line Manager

Vicente Torres knows what it means to pursue a passion – and the resilience it takes to pivot when life takes you in a different direction. Before building a career at Daimler, where he now works as a product line manager, he spent nearly eight years competing on Mexico’s national fencing team, with aspirations of qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“I fell short of that goal,” he reflects. “But that pushed me to say, ‘OK, it’s time to go back to university, back to complete my degree.’”

He completed undergraduate studies in his native Mexico, earning a degree in economics, when his fencing past led him to Oregon – a hotbed for the sport and a place where he had attended several camps. “I began looking at the graduate programs in the area, and George Fox’s full-time MBA was the right fit,” he says. “It was just what I needed.”

The program helped him transition from a technical background in economics to a broader leadership mindset, while also helping him acclimate to U.S. workplace culture. It also offered a tight cohort community he still relies upon. “It’s been 10 years since we graduated together, yet we still hang out – and some of them work here. It’s nice to still have that supportive community.”

In his role, Torres leads a portfolio of eight digital products focused on remote updates, compliance and regulatory topics – technology that keeps modern trucks connected, efficient and up to date. He thrives on solving complex problems, but what drives him most is developing people – coaching teams, building trust and helping others grow.

To that end, his faith plays a role in how he conducts himself. Guided by values like integrity, humility and respect, Torres is intentional about how he leads, especially when navigating difficult decisions. “I definitely have a commitment to be a leader who treats people fairly and thoughtfully, striving to be consistent, trustworthy and grounded,” he says.

Kelsey Ferry, Project Manager

Kelsey Ferry has built a career on bringing order to complexity. A project manager at Daimler, she plays a key role in the company’s HR operations, supporting benefits programs for more than 30,000 employees across the U.S. and Canada.

Ferry joined Daimler in 2017 after completing her MBA at George Fox, getting her foot in the door as a contractor thanks to an opportunity she heard about through the university. Today, her work centers on project and vendor management – translating strategy into execution, coordinating teams and ensuring projects stay on track. “I joke that I’m a cat herder,” she says, describing her role in keeping moving parts aligned.

What Ferry loves most is the impact her work has on people. Though she operates behind the scenes, her projects directly support employees’ well-being, and she often helps colleagues navigate complex benefits questions. Recently, she’s been especially engaged in understanding how emerging technologies like AI affect employee data and organizational processes.

“We’re not trying to gatekeep or anything like that,” she says of her HR team. “We’re more just keeping a pulse on making sure that we understand how AI is being used and how our employees’ data is being used within the systems.”

Ferry’s path to Daimler wasn’t what she originally imagined – she first planned for a career in healthcare – but she now embraces the flexibility of a nonlinear journey. George Fox played a role in helping her make that pivot, as she developed the collaborative skills that define her work today, including learning to manage group dynamics, balance priorities and lean on others’ strengths.

“It was very collaborative within your cohort, which transfers directly into being a project manager at a large company,” Ferry says of her MBA experience. “I mean, when you look at team dynamics, the different personalities, the different ways people work, time management, competing priorities, the different expectations you have from team members – all of those were great skills that I honed at George Fox, then transferred directly into project management at Daimler.”

While she keeps a low profile online, Ferry stays connected to her alma mater by engaging with students during campus visits to Daimler, offering guidance and insight.

Tony Long, Talent Acquisition Manager

Tony Long’s path to Daimler wasn’t linear, but that’s exactly what makes his work meaningful. A former Navy servicemember, Long arrived at George Fox after eight years in the military, earning his MBA in 2016 while helping launch the university’s football program as a member of its early-year teams.

Today, as manager of talent acquisition, Long leads recruiting efforts for about 5,000 office employees across the U.S. and Canada. His team oversees full-time hiring, internships and contingent staffing – often serving as a candidate’s first impression of the company. For Long, that responsibility is what makes the work rewarding. “We’re often the first interaction someone has with the company,” he says. “For many, it’s their first big opportunity, and a lot of times it’s their first full-time job or first internship. The excitement around that is the fun part of my job.”

Long was drawn to Daimler by its people and culture, initially joining as a contractor before working his way into leadership. He values the company’s emphasis on relationships and sees his role as both strategic and personal – guiding candidates, mentoring team members and helping shape the organization’s future workforce.

As preparation, he enrolled in George Fox’s MBA program and played collegiate football, where he honed his teamwork skills and learned to trust and lean on others’ strengths – principles he still applies daily. His connection to the university continues in the form of mentoring students, speaking in classes and supporting fellow alumni. “I just feel it’s important to invest in the community that helped shape my journey,” he says.

Ultimately, he sees his work as both a calling and a platform for impact, shaped by his faith and a deep sense of purpose. He takes pride not only in hiring great talent, but in developing his own team and preparing them for future success across the organization.

 

James Pena, Project Engineer

James Pena never envisioned working for a truck manufacturing company when he graduated from George Fox with a degree in biology in 2014. Back then he figured he’d wind up with a role in the healthcare industry, but life has proven to, as he puts it, “be filled with a lot of unexpected twists and turns.”

Today, after working for nearly eight years in the higher education sector, he’s a project engineer at Daimler, responsible for a strategic initiative to reduce product complexity across the company’s portfolio. Collaborating with teams across engineering, sales, marketing and purchasing, he helps identify efficiencies that not only streamline operations but also contribute to an ambitious financial savings goal.

The work is demanding, but that’s the reason he loves it. He describes it as the most challenging role he’s held – and also one of the most rewarding, thanks to the collaborative team environment and the opportunity to solve complex problems.

“The way I think about calling and career has been very much informed by my faith and my understanding of how God wants me to serve the world. There’s that idea of vocation that we talked a lot about at Fox – that intersection of your needs, what you’re good at, and what the world needs, and I see those pieces at play here.”

“I think, initially, I had a narrow view of what it meant to do meaningful and impactful work,” says Pena, who began at Daimler in 2023 and transitioned to his current role in November of last year. “Obviously, if you’re a doctor or teacher, that ‘career calling’ aspect of the job is obvious. But I’d like to think that we can find that sort of meaning in all our work, and I’ve been able to find that here. I’m doing my part to help this company succeed and, in the bigger picture, help out our economy.”

All the while, his experiences at George Fox – through academics and his role as a resident advisor and assistant area coordinator – have helped shape and prepare him for the job at hand, regardless of the fact he graduated with a degree that doesn’t directly apply to his role. His biology coursework built critical thinking skills, while his experience in residence life developed his ability to work with people.

“Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t 100 percent sure of what you want to do while you’re in college, because you never know where the road will take you,” is his advice to college students.

As for his role, Pena’s broadened understanding of what “meaningful work” is has helped him recognize his job has a greater purpose.

“The way I think about calling and career has been very much informed by my faith and my understanding of how God wants me to serve the world – how he wants me to think about work as more than just making money,” he says. “There’s that idea of vocation that we talked a lot about at Fox – that intersection of your needs, what you’re good at, and what the world needs, and I see those pieces at play here.”