Nashville Alum Reflects on Training Experience, Long Career At Pepsi

When Bruce Wright began training at Nashville Auto-Diesel College (NADC) in the early 1970s, diesel classes were still being held off-campus at a separate downtown site.  Nevertheless, Mr. Wright credits his training with leading him to a long, prosperous career with one of the world’s largest corporations – a career in which he not only put into practice what he learned in class, but also helped launched the careers of several other Nashville graduates!

“NADC had prepared me well to handle the task of being at work and on time every day with the training to do the job,” Mr. Wright says, referring to his career in the diesel maintenance and fleet management departments of Pepsi Beverages Company, the world’s second-largest Pepsi bottler.  “[The school] did a nice job of giving me the information I needed to earn a living as a technician in the auto and diesel field, along with teaching me to the best that I could be at whatever I did in life.  They also helped set up my job interview with Pepsi.”

A member of the NADC (now Lincoln Tech in Nashville) Hall of Fame, Mr. Wright enjoyed a career with Pepsi from 1972-2010.  At the time of his retirement, he was a Fleet Manager – a position he held for 29 of his 39 years at the company.  As Fleet Manager, he had the opportunity to interview and hire many of his fellow Nashville alumni.

“I hired several technicians over the years from NADC [who] turned out to be good employees,” he says.  “That tells me the school is doing all the right things.”

Every day, graduates of Lincoln’s Nashville campus enjoy careers with real impact all around the country.  The school’s programs have generated tens of thousands of graduates over the past 95 years who have gone on to launch exciting, rewarding careers in automotive, collision repair, diesel truck, and heavy equipment fields.  Mr. Wright’s experience is an example of how the right training program can help you build the skills you need to launch a career you’ll love – and the 95-year tradition at our Nashville campus is truly a mark of career training excellence!