Governor visits Pulaski County to mark Patton Logistics Expansion
By WILLIAM PAINE
Patriot Publishing
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin came to Pulaski County last Thursday to celebrate the planned $10 million expansion of Patton Logistics, a trucking and warehousing company located in the New River Valley Commerce Park.
Patton Logistics is based out of Pennsylvania but expanded operations to Virginia in 2020 by building a 250,000 sq. ft. structure in the NRV Commerce Park near Dublin.
Patton Logistics currently has operations in Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey and Maryland and most recently expanded in the NRV Commerce Park in February 2024, with the construction of a new Logistics Center.
Numerous individuals, many of whom were state and local government officials, filed inside the vast Patton Logistics warehouse and gathered in front of a small stage set up for the occasion. Pulaski County High School’s Culinary Arts class provided the very popular hors d’oeuvres for the ceremony.
Laura Walters, Chairwoman of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors gave opening remarks. Micheal Solomon, Pulaski County’s Economic Development Executive Director and Executive Director of Virginia’s First Regional Industrial Facility Authority then spoke about the history of the NRV Commerce Park, which first opened in 1999. He introduced Congressman Morgan Griffith, who took the stage next.
“I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to come here and celebrate this,” said Griffith. “I don’t believe the Federal government had anything to do with this, but it’s in my district and I’m thrilled to be here.”
Griffith praised the efforts of the Virginia First Team before introducing state senator Travis Hackworth.
“We just came back from Richmond this morning after about 12 hours in the General Assembly,” said Hackworth. “Under the leadership of our great Governor, I feel good about some of the things that we got accomplished this year and to be able to come on the way back and stop here in Pulaski for this great announcement, is just the whipped cream on the ice cream!”
Hackworth praised Patton Logistics President Steve Patton for his guidance before introducing Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce, Jaun Pablo Segura, who took the stage next.
“Twenty-four years ago, this company had 75 trucks and 150 trailers and now it has 500 trucks and 1,500 trailers,” said Segura. “That’s almost 1,000 percent growth, folks!
“Under this Governor’s leadership, Virginia is back in its rightful place as the number one state to do business.”
Segura was referring to a recent CNBC news story ranking Virginia as the number one state to do business in in the country.
Governor Youngkin took the stage next and thanked Steve Patton for his investment in Virginia and Pulaski County and remarked on the 25 new jobs slated to be created by this expansion.
“You see there are a lot of powerful words in the English language,” said Youngkin. “I think the three most powerful words are ‘I love you’ … but right up behind ‘I love you’ is, ‘you are hired.’ That’s a great set of words. It means, one, I respect you. Two, I honor what you can do and want you to be part of our team. And three, let’s build a future for you together with us … and Patton Logistics is saying exactly that.
“It’s been a rip roaring three years for us with $104 billion in capital committed to expanding business in the Commonwealth … that will result in 70,000 jobs that will be created in the next number of years,” Youngkin continued. “There’s 270,000 more people working in Virginia today than there was just three years ago. That’s 270,000 people who have heard those magic three words, ‘you are hired,’ which is a quiet way of saying, ‘I love you’.”
Youngkin went on to praise state and local leadership for their role in this expansion.
Steve Patton joined the Governor onstage and Youngkin presented him with a flag of Virginia, which had at one time flown over the Virginia state capital.
Youngkin left the stage and Steve Patton immediately called his son-in-law Thierry Lindor on to the stage before naming several individuals in the audience who “have been here since day one.”
Patton added that the new warehouse should be completed by next year adding that he hoped to eventually double the size of the project, “at some point … that’s Thierry’s job.”
Lindor, who Patton emphasized was son-in-law and his business partner, then took the microphone and said that he was born in Haiti and met his wife (Patton’s daughter) in Philadelphia in 2020.
“He (Steve Patton) always had this confidence in me and invited me to join the team,” said Lindor. “I grew up without a father and spending this time with Steve has been very impactful. I’ve learned a lot from him and I appreciate the opportunity I’ve been given to be here in this situation. I never expected this growing up, so I have him to thank for that and I just want to say thank you.”
Patton then gave Lindor a hug before Youngkin again took the stage.
“I always finish every meeting with one basic invitation,” said Youngkin. “I ask everybody what time is it? And you answer with “time to go to work.” So what time is it?”
The audience then dutifully replied. “Time to go to work!”
In between photo opportunities, Governor Youngkin was asked about the recent successful cleanup operation on Claytor Lake after the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene.
“We knocked a lot of heads to get that done and Laura (Walters) was great,” said Youngkin. “We were on lake cleanup duty together.”
Was there any 2025 General Assembly bill that he was especially happy about signing into law?
“I am really excited about the cell phone free education,” replied Youngkin. “I wrote an executive order last summer and got it started and then the General Assembly came with a bill. I didn’t think it went far enough. I amended it. They accepted my amendments, and so now we’ve got cell phone free education across the Commonwealth of Virginia, so that our kids can concentrate. They aren’t going to be dragged into these really difficult algorithms that the social media companies use, and then finally, they’re going to have friends, as opposed to a phone.”
After the ceremony ended, members of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors presented the governor with a Pulaski County High School football jersey. The jersey’s number is 74, which was chosen because Youngkin is the 74th Governor of Virginia.
