When Chelsea Conway talks about the truck business, she doesn't describe it as a showroom-and-sales operation. She describes it as an around-the-clock responsibility.
"If a municipal truck is down during a snowstorm, the world stops," Conway said. "We understand the safety concerns of that. With a municipality, you have to be there for the entire life of the vehicle, not just on the sale."
That mindset — service first, relationships always — has helped define Conway Beam Truck Group (formerly Beam Mack), a 75-year-old, family-owned truck dealership group that serves the western and central portion of New York State. It also is a mindset Conway has leaned on as she built her own path in an industry where women at the CEO level remain the exception rather than the rule.
Conway is the fourth generation to lead the dealership organization founded by her great-grandfather, Fred Beam. Today, she serves as CEO of Conway Beam, overseeing a five-location operation with approximately 200 employees and a portfolio of commercial-truck brands that includes Mack, Volvo, Hino, Isuzu and, most recently, TICO.
"It's still a customer-based industry," she said. "Relationships are so important because no matter who you are — you are going to have an issue. To be able to pick up the phone and call someone and have it be the same person you talked to the last time … that matters."
Mack Dealership From the Beginning
Conway Beam's story starts with Mack — and it still runs through Mack.
According to Conway, her great-grandfather was a Mack employee. When Mack began selling off franchises, Beam "raised his hand" and secured the Rochester branch. That decision planted the flag for what would become a multi-location dealership footprint across the western half of New York.
"It initially started with Mack. That's the forefront of our blood." Conway said.
From there, the organization expanded over time, adding locations and ultimately broadening its line card. Conway describes the company today as covering the western and central-western half of the state with a Mack-centered footprint, complemented by other brands suited to different applications and customer segments.
While Mack and Volvo remain the headline names, the additional lines fill out the medium-duty and specialty niches. Hino and Isuzu, she said, play primarily in the medium-duty world and "probably wouldn't" be considered core to municipal applications in the way heavy vocational trucks are. TICO, the newest addition, is a terminal tractor line — equipment she described as a "yard horse" — useful in port, distribution and terminal environments.
Generations of Leadership, Common Training Ground
The company's multigenerational leadership includes Conway's father, Tom Conway, who joined the business in 1974 and became president in 1987. Conway said he followed the family pattern of learning the operation from the inside out rather than stepping into an executive office on day one.
"That's typically what our family path has been," she said. "Try to get you involved with as much as possible. There's so many different elements of the business."
For Conway, being "in the business" began long before she held a title.
"When I was in diapers," she said, explaining that in a family enterprise, "you actually grow up in a family business. Your family talks about it at the dinner table. You're constantly exposed to it."
Her first actual work experience came in high school — part-time, with administrative tasks and whatever else needed doing. She continued that pattern through college, working part-time and learning the people and the processes. After completing graduate school, she joined full-time.
Looking back, Conway said the turning point wasn't a single vehicle program or a big sale. It was the human element.
"When you don't fully understand it, it's hard to completely embrace it," she said. "The turning point was when I came on full-time and you really get to know the people. I fell in love with the people, the customers, our coworkers. I said, these are the people that I want to be around for the rest of my life."
In dealership leadership, Conway said, executives tend to fall into different molds. Some are outward-facing and sales-driven — trade shows, handshakes and constant visibility. Others build strength behind the scenes, focused on process, efficiency and making the whole operation run clean.
Conway places herself firmly in the second group.
"I tend to be more of the behind-the-scenes type of person," she said. "I like the operation side of it. I'm really fascinated by having something function perfectly… the most well-oiled machine."
She also sees that as complementary to her father's strengths. In her view, he naturally leans toward sales and the external side of the business, while she gravitates toward operations and execution. Together, she said, it creates a balance that benefits the organization.
Major Milestone
Asked what stands out most from her decade-plus in top leadership, Conway pointed to one defining event: the company's 2017 acquisition of the Mack and Volvo dealership operation in Buffalo.
"That was the big one," she said. "An acquisition is a big event for most companies. To be able to go through that as the leader, was very interesting and exciting."
The Buffalo expansion became more than a new dot on the map. Conway said the location is now the company's newest, largest and most state-of-the-art facility. It also reshaped the dealership's opportunity set.
The acquired operation had been "predominantly an over-the-road location," she said. Her team saw room to grow in additional segments — especially vocational applications — and wanted to bring a fuller focus to customers in the true western part of New York.
The Buffalo chapter also became a personal turning point for Conway. She met her husband, Greg Dechert, during that period.
Dechert was the union shop steward at the Buffalo operation at the time — an arrangement Conway acknowledged can be complicated in any dealership environment.
"We were not overly warm with each other for a few years," she said, describing an early relationship built more on tolerance than closeness.
Over time, shared interests and conversations softened the edges. A mutual friend helped bridge the gap. Eventually, the working relationship turned into something more, and Conway said the connection has given her something valuable in leadership: perspective from the shop floor.
"He brings a different perspective," she said. "I never physically wrenched in the shop. Hearing his stories has been great for my point of view."
It also is practical. When technical issues land on her desk, Conway said Dechert can translate them in ways that are immediate and clear — sometimes by walking her into the shop and showing her what's happening.
"That extra level of product knowledge is invaluable because he's wrenched on these vehicles and worked on these vehicles for so long," she said.
Standing Out in Male-Dominated Industry
Conway is direct about the reality of being a woman CEO in the truck dealership world: It still changes the room.
"Absolutely," she said, when asked whether it remains a challenge.
But she also said she has learned not to treat it as an obstacle she can't control. Instead, she treats it as something to use.
"I've tried to lean into it," she said. "There's nothing I can do about it. So, I found a way to use it as an opportunity because I stand out compared to a room full of men."
Conway said she approaches situations with a different perspective, and she's comfortable having different conversations and reacting differently than some of her male peers might. The key, she said, is not letting it become a crutch — finding a way to capitalize on it while still doing the job at the highest level.
Serving Municipal Customers
In the New York municipal market — snow, ice, narrow budgets and long vehicle life cycles — Conway Beam's approach is built around uptime and support.
Conway describes municipal customers as different by nature: they buy through a process that doesn't look like a typical walk-in sale, and the consequences of downtime can hit public safety quickly.
"We understand the town stops if the municipal truck is down during a snowstorm," she said. "We will do whatever we need to help the municipality get on the road."
She shared examples of the dealership's service commitment: technicians and staff working extended hours on Christmas Eve, employees coming in on days off — whatever is required when a plow truck or critical unit needs to be returned to service.
Conway said the stakes can be especially high in smaller municipalities with limited fleet sizes.
"If you're talking a small municipality with a limited fleet and citizens can't get around, the world stops for them," she said.
Her view of the dealership's role is bigger than a transaction.
"From a society standpoint, we need safe roads out there," Conway said. "Regardless from a business perspective, the world stops if our municipalities stop."
Trucks Break Down, Support Is the Difference
Conway's perspective on product differentiation is blunt: the equipment matters, but support is what separates good partners from temporary vendors.
"If somebody tells you their vehicle will never break down, they are not telling you the truth," she said. "All vehicles break down. The crux of a good product is the product support that's provided."
To her, that support includes fast parts availability, accurate diagnostics and an organization structured to get customers back on the road quickly — especially when the customer is a municipality under pressure.
Chassis, Bodies, ‘Equipping' Question
Like many truck dealerships, Conway Beam sells chassis, but the final configuration of many vocational and municipal trucks depends on bodies and equipment installed by specialized upfitters.
Conway said the dealership's involvement depends on the deal. Sometimes the company sells a chassis only. Other times it partners with a body company and helps manage the full process, even though the chassis typically leaves the dealership and travels to the equipping facility.
Because municipal buyers need a complete working tool, not a spec sheet, Conway said her sales team stays well informed on the body side of the vehicle — what's available, what fits and what the lead times look like.
Lead times remain a major reality in today's body and upfit world, she said, and dealers need to educate customers upfront.
"Some bodies' lead times might be longer than others," she said, noting that expectations about delivery timelines can make or break satisfaction, especially for public fleets that plan years ahead.
As for why more dealers don't simply build their own body operations, Conway said her team has discussed it — more than once — but the barriers are real.
"There's an engineering element that we are not experts in," she said. "There's a lot involved … sourcing material, building and actually engineering the design."
Electric Vehicles, Mandates, Unknowns Ahead
Municipal buyers also are watching the industry's powertrain shift closely. Conway spoke carefully about the transition to electric trucks, describing the current stage as "new technology" with room for manufacturers to better tailor solutions to customer needs.
She said the industry's direction is still unsettled and could evolve toward electric vehicles — or potentially toward hydrogen fuel — depending on how technology, infrastructure and practical performance develop.
Conway also noted that a federal order signed in June "shut it down" for the time being, referring to shifting policy around mandates and requirements. In her words, there are "legal animals" still at play in government, but the immediate effect has been a pause.
Education, Competition
Conway's background includes a competitive side that few dealership CEOs can claim: elite track and field.
She competed in the 2020 Olympic Trials (held in 2021 due to COVID) in the 20-km race walk. Qualification, she said, comes either by hitting a standard time or ranking in the top 15 nationally. In her case, it was the ranking — achieved during a period when many athletes had fewer opportunities to compete.
The trials took place in Eugene, Ore., and Conway said one memory stands above the rest: standing at the start line alongside Olympians.
"It was incredible," she said. "A unique and eye-opening experience. It's almost like imposter syndrome."
Her education path included finishing her undergraduate degree at Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky and earning an MBA from the University of Denver.
Industry Groups, Community Work
Conway stays involved beyond the dealership walls. She participates in a NADA 20 Group and is part of a local family business group in the Rochester area, where multi-generation organizations share resources and compare notes on challenges that don't show up in a typical corporate structure.
She also sits on a board for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Conway said her interest grew from personal experience with asthma and a desire to support an organization where she felt funds were used effectively to advance research and improve outcomes.
‘Handshake Business' in Upstate New York
Conway watches the broader dealership landscape closely — and sees the same consolidation pressure impacting the truck world that has reshaped other equipment segments.
When she started, she said, there were approximately 200 Mack and Volvo dealers in her space; today, she estimates that number is down into the 80s. Private equity, she said, has been "scooping up dealerships," and dealer groups are increasingly buying outside their immediate geography — sometimes far enough that "you have to fly to get to the other location."
Conway believes there is a real advantage to operating in a tight regional footprint where locations can support one another quickly by moving parts, sharing resources and responding faster than a spread-out enterprise can.
In the end, she comes back to the same theme: this industry runs on relationships, and upstate New York, in particular, still operates with a handshake mentality.
"Upstate New York is very different than downstate New York," Conway said. "It is very much a handshake business."
Shaped By People, Defined By Service
After 75 years, Conway Beam is still building on a foundation set by a Mack employee who wanted a Rochester franchise and was willing to take the leap. Three generations later, Chelsea Conway's leadership reflects a modern dealership reality — technology shifts, new powertrains, long lead times, tighter labor markets and ongoing consolidation.
But her core message sounds old-fashioned in the best way: know your people, stand by your customers and be there when it counts.
In the municipal world, that means the phones ring when the weather turns, and the trucks have to move — no matter what day it is.
"We will do whatever we need to do to help the municipality get on the road," she said. P
