Eric Galioto is Mayflower’s 2022 Van Operator of the Year
Eric has been honored on a national level by Mayflower Transit for outstanding Van Operator performance throughout 2022.
It’s always exciting when a Hilldrup professional who we recognize is the best of our best is then honored at the national level. Eric Galioto, Hilldrup Van Operator, is the latest example of just that! Eric has been honored multiple times by Mayflower Transit for being a Van Operator of the Month and earlier this year, he was named Hilldrup’s Van Operator of the Year for 2022. Most recently, Eric was honored by UniGroup, the parent company of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit, as Mayflower’s 2022 Van Operator of the Year based on his outstanding performance as a professional Van Operator.
“It takes nearly perfect statistics among the hundreds of Van Operators in the UniGroup network to win Van Operator of the Year,” shared John Seal, Senior Vice President of Operations. “Eric’s numbers are spectacular, and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Eric’s Van Operator performance in 2022 includes:
- A customer service rating of 95%
- A score of 99.5% for electronic updating via Stride
- Driving 67,425 miles without a single safety infraction
- A claims ratio of less than half a point
- Generating over $527,000 in linehaul revenue
Just as outstanding as Eric’s professional achievements, if not more so, is Eric’s personal story. Born in Vietnam and growing up on a farm there, Eric had little academic or professional opportunities since he was half-American. Knowing this, his grandmother encouraged Eric to move to the United States, where his father was from originally. Eric had no contact with his father who had served in the Vietnam War. Eric met his wife who was also working to come to the United States, and together they settled in the Atlanta area where Eric began working on an assembly line. He suffered a workplace accident and while recovering, he saw an advertisement for obtaining a CDL license. While going to school and teaching himself English as a second language, Eric earned his CDL license and began his career in the moving and storage industry. About 12 years ago, Eric joined Hilldrup and has enjoyed moving all kinds of customers, and especially military members, all over the country.
Despite being away on the road as a Van Operator, Eric and his wife, Amy, raised three children – a daughter serving in the U.S. Navy, his son is an IT expert, and his second daughter is a physician.
Fifteen years after his arrival to the U.S., Eric looked up his father in the Whitepages and reached out to him. His father replied back the following day sharing that he and their family had been waiting for Eric – their father and son relationship is as strong as ever today.
A true American story of hard work, perseverance, war – and even love – brought Eric to where he is today. We are honored to have Eric as an essential and committed professional in our organization and are thrilled to share his success – both on and off the road. On behalf of all of us at Hilldrup, congratulations, Eric!
In early 2023, Eric Galioto was honored by Hilldrup as our Van Operator of the Year for 2022 during our Best of the Best Awards Dinner.
Photo credit: Nicolas Monaghan
Eric Galioto is congratulated by Jason Mills, President & CEO, UniGroup (left), and Charles W. McDaniel, Chairman of the Board of UniGroup and President & CEO of Hilldrup (right). Eric was presented with the Mayflower Van Operator of the Year Award during the 2023 UniGroup Learning Conference in St. Louis, MO.
