Meet the Team Spotlight: Mark Ross
Mark Ross is one of the newer members to join Cutting Edge Supply’s sales force, having joined the family-owned business in May 2023 as an Outside Sales Rep covering ground in both Nevada and Utah.
Born and raised in Northern Nevada, Mark originally began his career by following in his father’s footsteps, heading underground to work in the gold mine in Winnemucca at 19-years old.
“It’s hard work, long hours,” said Mark. “You’re wet, you’re cold, you’re muddy and once you go down the shaft, you’re down for 12.5 hours, and everything is based on production – how much rock you are moving and bringing up during your shift. It’s challenging, but it pays really well. You get addicted to the money and never want to leave because it’s hard to make that kind of money without having a degree.”
Mark spent 14 years working in the mines, including over 10 years with Kennecott copper mine in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was there that he operated the largest piece of equipment in his career — a 934E Komatsu 450-ton haul truck.
“It’s a 450-ton haul truck and just massive,” said Mark. “The scale of the equipment at the mines is really mind-blowing.”
He eventually found himself at a crossroads when one of his daughters was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
“I needed to be able to monitor her blood sugar and so I couldn’t be underground any more working 12-hour shifts,” he shared.
He spent a year as a foreman for a sand and gravel pit in Salt Lake before joining CarWil back in Winnemucca as an account sales rep. Eventually, a friend and co-worker who had moved on from CarWil mentioned to Mark that Cutting Edge Supply was looking for a sales rep in Las Vegas. He applied online and soon landed the role.
“I was familiar with Cutting Edge since they carried Hardox, but I had no idea how extensive their product lines and service capabilities were when I first came on board,” said Mark. “Coming from a mining background, I wasn’t as familiar with some of the construction equipment so there was a learning curve on that front as well. But the biggest thing in my transition is just how much stuff we actually do, especially out of the shop. Trying to know everything you can sell or help a customer with is just crazy. There is just so much. I feel like almost every time I talk to one of our sales managers, I learn something new that we offer.”
Cutting Edge’s broad scope and cost-saving solutions have allowed Mark to quickly build relationships with is customers.
“My approach is what’s keeping you up at night, and how can I help solve?” said Mark. “Most of the time, we either have what we need, can source it quickly or even custom fab. Once you solve a few of those problems for them, they know they can count on you and it opens up other avenues.”
One project highlight since joining the team involved a construction customer, who was developing land for housing in St. George, Utah.
“The ground is so bad they were breaking thousand-dollar teeth – two or three a day, and so we came up with the idea to take off the bucket and attach the single-tooth ripper, which is a D11 ripper. It attaches to a EX1200 Hitachi excavator and they use that to rip the rock out instead of destroying bucket teeth or dozers.”
Away from the office, Mark most enjoys being a “girl dad,” barbecuing ribs on his Traeger and cheering on his favorite sports teams — the Raiders and the Oregon Ducks.
“A lot of people are surprised that I’m a girl dad,” shared Mark. “I am all tatted up and love sports, but I’ve clocked plenty of hours with my girls at dance recitals and that sort of stuff.”