November/December 2022 - 77

Mary Pohlman, Chosen by a Career
Sometimes we choose a career and
sometimes a career chooses us. For
Mary Pohlman, Midwest regional sales
manager at Drillers Choice, Inc. (DCI) in
Marietta, Georgia, her ultimate career
seemed to choose her.
Pohlman grew up on a farm in
northwest Iowa. She graduated from
Northwest Missouri State University in
1999 with a bachelor 's degree in
education. While she wasn't certain
that she truly wanted to be a teacher,
she loved learning and a career in
education would provide an opportunity
to continue to learn new things.
In May of her junior year, she taught at
an inner-city school in Kansas City,
Missouri. She returned to campus for
her last semester of college that
following fall where she completed her
student teaching requirement. After
graduating midyear, which is outside
the normal hiring cycle in education,
she found it hard to find a full-time
teaching position. She was, however,
able to find work as a substitute teacher.
At the end of the
school year, she
s o u g h t s umme r
employment, and as
fate would have it,
secured a position as a customer
service associate at drilling tools
manufacturer Pengo in Laurens, Iowa,
very near her ancestral home, and near
where she now resides. Pengo serves
both the agricultural and construction
markets. That summer job morphed
into a long and successful career in the
deep foundations industry for Pohlman.
She had found her niche.
At Pengo she transitioned into being
a product specialist in foundation
tooling and drives. She gradually
became the primary point of contact for
all the firm's outside sales reps. She
AUTHOR S. Scot Litke, Hon. D.GE
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * NOV/DEC 2022 * 77
MEMBER PROF I LE
relationships that I've made and have
maintained over the years. I often
wonder in this industry about the
percentage of people who start in the
business and never leave. " This is a
common theme echoed by the lion's
share of people in every aspect in the
deep foundation industry.
DFI Is a Good Fit
flourished in her new role, spending 13
years with the company. While with
Pengo she had an opportunity to attend
the 2002 CONEXPO, the largest
construction equipment show in the
U.S. This exposure to the wide range of
deep foundation equipment, coupled
wi th her experiences at Pengo,
cemented her interest in pursuing her
career in the industry. In 2013, she
" I love how niche this industry is and the relationships
that I've made and have maintained over the years. "
joined the sales team at drilling tool
manufacturer Jeffrey Machine in
Birmingham, Alabama. In 2019, she
went to work with DCI where she has
continued her career. DCI is a supplier
of drilling tools, new and used drill rigs,
and serves as a sales and service
provider for several of the deep
foundation industry's major equipment
manufacturers. Her territory includes
the Ohio Valley, the Midwest and
south-central states.
Suffice to say, Pohlman clearly
enjoys her work. She comments, " I love
how niche this industry is and the
Pohlman's entrance into the world of
DFI was at its 2004 Annual Meeting in
Vanc ouve r, B r i t i sh Co l umb i a .
Fortuitously, her boss at Pengo thought
that she would derive a good deal of
benefit from being exposed to other
professionals in the industry and the
products they offered, helping her
develop an " eye " for the broader
industry. She recounts that the first
group of people she met at the DFI
meeting are people she works with
today. In her words, " I was hooked! " She
goes on, " I learned early on that the
opportunity to network, meet people
and learn about all facets of the
industry was going
to be very important
turning my 'job' into
a career. "
She feels that
knowing about the deep foundations
industry enables her to help her
customers find the best products for
their needs even if they may not fall
under the DCI product umbrella. For her
it's all about building relationships and
being of service. This commitment pays
dividends in the end.
Pohlman has participated in the
activities and initiatives of DFI's
Women in Deep Foundations Committee.
She is a regular at DFI meetings
and conferences, which she finds to be
energizing and professionally productive.
Early on, when she began to attend
November/December 2022

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