Rachael Strickland, a twenty-five-year veteran at Star Distribution Systems, Inc., was recently promoted to Customer Service Manager when Debbie Valliant retired earlier this year. Rachael started her career at Star Distribution in the warehouse, learning warehouse procedures, inventory management, unloading freight and pulling outbound orders.  From there, Rachael was moved into the Customer Service Department where she now leads the entire Customer Service team at the Plant City, Florida facility.

Initially, Rachael was responsible for data processing in Star’s proprietary WMS and eventually became a Customer Service Representative and Account Manager.  Over the years she worked with various accounts including Bell-Carter Foods, Trane Air Conditioning and several other longstanding customers. Today, she spends her time supporting the Customer Service Team as they manage their specific logistical clients’ needs.

 Josh Jimenez, General Manager, oversees the onboarding for all new accounts and then transitions them to Rachael to learn the client’s specific business needs.  For several months, Rachael works directly with each new account before assigning one of her Customer Service Representatives to handle the daily communications between businesses. Through this process, she gains a working knowledge of every account and is ready to step in at any time to assist her Customer Service Team. 

From a professional standpoint, Rachael lives by one of Star’s guiding principles – resolve every customer’s issue as quickly and painlessly as possible.  She believes in phone calls over emails and always strives to make sure that any issue is addressed directly with her clients, rather than having them learn about issues downstream.

Larry Jimenez, Jr, Vice President – Business Development states, “Rachael and her family are outstanding people and she will always have the support from the upper-management team. She is truly a “Star” and we’re privileged to have her on our team. I’m honored to work side-by-side with her on a daily basis. If you haven’t met Rachel yet, do yourself a favor and give her a call today!”

Rachael loves her job, Star Distribution Systems, Inc., and the work that she does – serving customers and mentoring other team members as they build and maintain long-term relationships with their valued customers.