Chris Barrett, DILO’s Regional Manager based out of Portland, Oregon, was born and raised in Massachusetts before moving to rural New Hampshire in high school. After graduating from high school, he immediately moved back to Massachusetts before joining the Air Force shortly thereafter. With the Air Force, he made his way down the east coast and eventually ended up in Florida in 2010.
Chris says that his journey to DILO happened by sheer coincidence. At the time, he had been working at a mailing facility as a machine operator, but he wasn’t feeling as though it was a place that he could build a career from. Chris hadn’t settled on any one kind of profession leading up to that point, so he decided to leave his fate in the hands of a recruiting company, and they soon sent him off to an interview at a bottling plant. When Chris was on his way to the interview, the recruiting company called and said the company had just hired the interviewee before him but questioned if and what he knew about SF6 gas. Despite having no clue about SF6 at the time, he proceeded to head over to DILO for an interview.
During his interview, Chris was asked to trace a gas path from one coupling on an older MINI-Plus gas cart to another coupling and set about using his knowledge from his days as an F-15 Crew Chief in the USAF. He pointed out a solenoid and a check valve before the interviewer stopped him. Chris thought perhaps his brain had failed him, but he was then told that he had just pointed out two things that no one else who interviewed had. He received an offer later that day and the rest is history!
When he first began his career with DILO in 2011, Chris started out working in the old compressor shop with Corey Ratza, DILO’s Sales Director. At the time, they had an extensive backlog of builds to catch up with, but almost immediately he could tell that Corey and himself were “kindred spirits” of sorts when it came to work ethic. Within a month of working 12+ hour days and weekends, they had caught up on the builds and were working on a surplus of units!
This hard work caught the eye of DILO’s late CEO at the time, Lukas Rothlisberger, and within a few short months Chris was offered a Regional Manager position. Fast forward 12 years and Chris says the fun has only intensified. Though he had never envisioned himself in a role like this, he loves it! It combines a penchant for working with his hands, assisting people with a myriad of requests, as well as teaching. Chris also states that the ability to visit fun and interesting locations within his position is just icing on the cake.
Chris says the following about working at DILO:
“I’ve left myself as pliable as possible as a form of payback to the company that has treated me so well. It’s allowed me to learn many new things and travel to places I would’ve never seen on my own. DILO has taken me to almost all 50 states, along with parts of Central America, South America, and Europe. The friends I’ve made (both in-house and throughout our customer base) along the way has been one of the best perks of my job so far. There never seems to be a dull moment at DILO, so I think it’s safe to say that you’re all stuck with me!”
Outside of work, Chris has many hobbies, namely music and working on cars. Living in the Pacific Northwest, he also can’t say no to a day of fishing and/or off-roading, but as the days are growing shorter and colder, music and working on cars tend to have been taking up most of his free time.
We thank you for all that you add to our team, Chris!
Watch Chris’ full interview below!
In the first pro-tip video below, Chris gives tips on disconnecting fittings.
In this second pro-tip video, Chris explains the importance of leveling out your trailer to the bottle rack that sits underneath the cart itself and how to do this.
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