Kevin Byrnes is a UPS tractor-trailer driver, nationally recognized UPS safety expert and friend to the President of the United States.
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How did we get here? Kevin is a UPS Circle of Honor member with over 30 years of safe driving working out of Parsippany, New Jersey. He’s a former Marine and two-time state truck driving champion with 2.5 million miles driven, and safety is his guiding principle.
“I need to come home every night to my family. I want to hug my boys when I get home every day,” Kevin said.
Last year, Kevin embarked on his greatest adventure to date – representing UPS and the entire industry as America’s Road Team Captain for the American Trucking Associations (ATA). He got to travel the country to spread a message of safe driving, while teaching about the transportation industry and its opportunities.
“This team will look to make a difference with how people drive on the road,” Kevin said. “Distracted driving is the No. 1 hazard. It only takes a split second whether I can see my family or if somebody else can see theirs.”
And then one day, Kevin got the invite of a lifetime.
“An email came from the White House with a fancy invitation, and it said, ‘the President requests your presence,’” Kevin said. “It was just so humbling. Made me proud to be an American and to be a truck driver.”
Kevin and others made the trip to Washington, D.C. for an event on the trucking industry, and he talked about how companies like UPS are delivering solutions and creating new jobs.
Did you know? UPS provides about 330,000 full- and part-time Teamsters-represented jobs. From August 2018 to February 2022, UPS added 72,000 Teamsters-represented roles in the U.S.
“What an honor to be at the people’s house representing the ATA, America’s Road Team, the Teamsters, UPS and truck drivers in general,” Kevin said. “Putting us out there like this showed people a great career choice they might not be thinking of.”
And safety will forever be Kevin’s middle name.
“There were tears of joy when I heard my name called,” Kevin said. “If I can manage to save one life doing this, it doesn’t get more meaningful than that.”