Wendy Lesley, Lead Site Logistics Coordinator, wears quite a few different hats at Logan’s Gap Wind Farm in Comanche County, Texas where she handles parts management, including ordering and inventory. Wendy assists with the training of new hires, schedules maintenance, monitors productivity, and oversees fleet management for all Pattern trucks in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. She keeps local landowners happy while also ensuring the site meets federal regulations to protect various endangered species that call Logan’s Gap home, including the black-capped vireo and whooping crane. But birds aren’t the only creatures Pattern employees have to take care to avoid. Just 150 miles southwest of Dallas, this is serious beef country. Carefully tracked, meticulously bred, and highly expensive Braford cattle roam Logan’s Gap’s 23,700 acres of private land. It’s a remote, rural area, and the town of Blanket where Wendy lives has a population of only 390. Her husband works for the electric company, and their children find it amusing that mom helps generate the electricity, while dad helps supply it to the homes.
Wendy worked in renewables prior to joining Pattern, with experience as a field service manager for a company that serviced area wind farms. She joined Pattern about three years ago, and was part of the team that oversaw Logan’s Gap as it transitioned to become Pattern’s first self-perform site. Wendy sees Pattern as performing important work, but not just in their environmental sustainability and stewardship. Rather, it’s the care they take with their employees and communities. “I love coming to work every day,” she said. “Management asks us if there are local things Pattern can support. The fact that they allow us a say is huge.” Wendy said that prior to Pattern, she’d never worked for an employer that truly prioritized employees and their families. At Pattern, employees are genuinely valued. She noted an initiative where Pattern employees were allowed to choose where $100 would be donated in their names. Pattern not only hears feedback, but they also act on it. Covid-19 restrictions meant residents of a local assisted-living facility couldn’t have visitors. After Pattern management heard employee concerns, a team at Pattern built and installed a gazebo with park benches to get the residents out of their rooms more frequently. “They’re a forward-thinking company,” she said. “They’re not only proactive—they’re pro-employee.”