december2023 - 35

MANAGEMENT
» Jim Mathis on his Laramie, Wyoming, ranch.
Photo: Kate Lunsford
leader Mathis hands
over WyoTech reins
Jim Mathis jump-started the
sputtering auto & diesel school in
2018, and after guiding the school
to growth and expansion, the
cowboy-at-heart is moseying on.
By Alex Keenan
It was not uncommon for boys growing up
in the 1960s to dream of becoming cowboys.
Spaghetti Westerns were all the rage, and perks
of the job included rolling hills, big skies-and
bigger steaks-and, most of all, the freedom
to make your own way. The lifestyle hooked
Jim Mathis when he moved to La Grange,
Wyoming, from Michigan in 1969.
" All I wanted to do when I got to Wyoming
was become a cowboy, " Mathis recently
recalled to Fleet Maintenance.
But life never happens the way you expect.
Over the next several decades, Mathis found
his true calling was in trucking-more specifically,
steering the next generation of automotive,
diesel, and collision technicians as
president and CEO of WyoTech, a for-profit
technical college in Laramie, Wyoming.
And it's a good thing Mathis did, as the vehicle
repair sector has suffered from a drawnout
drought of incoming young talent over the
years, while the old bulls have headed out to
pasture. This dynamic has created a technician
shortage, and educators like Mathis who
marshal interest and enrollment in the trade
are all that stand between America's cars,
trucks, and heavy equipment getting where
they need to go and gathering dust.
Mathis, a former WyoTech student, instructor,
and executive, has been integral to the
school's resurgence in recent years. Founded
in 1966, the trade college came under fire after
its previous owner, Corinthian Colleges, was
found to be misrepresenting the success of its
graduates and sold the school in 2015.
Mathis, who was also WyoTech's president
from 1998-2002, knew there needed to be a
new sheriff in these parts, so he rounded up a
posse of private investors. In 2018, he acquired
the school from the interim owner, Zenith
Education Group, with the help of Wyoming
state representatives. What he bought was not
the training juggernaut he previously presided
over. He started with a dozen students, down
from thousands. Since then, the school has
gone from a ghost town to a booming mine
of skilled talent. According to the school,
enrollment has risen 9,000% during Mathis'
tenure. In 2022, the school also completed a
90,000-sq.-ft. expansion, with more on the way.
" This turnaround has had its challenges, "
noted Cindy Barlow, WyoTech's director of
industry outreach. " Just as we were about to
take off, COVID hit. Jim proved that it was just
a bump in the road and that we needed to put
the truck into 4-wheel drive and stay teaching
in our shops and classrooms. "
While much of the country locked down and
learning went virtual, Barlow said Mathis " was
adamant that we stay in the shops and in our
classrooms, so we did. "
She added that the humble and tenacious
Mathis is the " True Grit " of Wyoming and " has
always risen above life's adversities and came
through it all tougher and stronger. "
With WyoTech brought back to life and
his mission accomplished, the self-professed
" wannabe cowboy " stepped down from day-today
operations on Nov. 1. A member of Mathis'
staff, Kyle Morris, who has been with WyoTech
for 20 years, now assumes the role of president.
Mathis, meanwhile, retains ownership and
remains CEO, though he prefers the term
December 2023 | FleetMaintenance.com
35
http://www.FleetMaintenance.com
december2023

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