Team Bios
Payton L. Lockey - Founder and Managing Member
Payton L. Lockey is a Founder and Managing Member of the Vacuum Truck Rentals (VTR) family of companies, headquartered in Richland, MS. He has worked in the environmental industry for over 25 years. He began his career as an environmental geologist with PPM Consultants where he pioneered new methods for vacuum remediation and in situ cleanup of subsurface contamination, establishing PPM as a regional leader in vacuum remediation technology. This work led him to start Vacuum Truck Rentals in the year 2000. VTR has grown into a premier rental provider in the industrial market with 17 locations.
Mr. Lockey has a bachelor’s degree in geology from Millsaps College. He lives in Madison, Miss. with his wife and two children. He is a Life Member of the MS Trucking Association Century Club and a two time Chairman of the Board for the MS Trucking Association Foundation. He is an Eagle Scout and has served on many civic and charity boards in central Mississippi. He is most proud of his time as Chairman of the Amanda W. Lockey Foundation which supports pancreatic cancer research and has funded two clinical trials to date.
B.T. Steadman - Founder and Managing Member
B.T. Steadman is a Founder and Managing Member of the Vacuum Truck Rentals (VTR) family of companies, headquartered in Richland, MS. He holds a BBA in banking and finance from Mississippi State University.
B.T. began his career in the real estate and construction business as a home builder. He also became a licensed appraiser and real estate broker and spent time in construction management before forming Vacuum Truck Services.
An Eagle Scout, he serves on the Executive Board of the Andrew Jackson Council of the Boy Scouts of America and is a past recipient of the Silver Beaver Award and a Second Century Society Member of the Boys Scouts of America. He is also on the boards of the Amanda W. Lockey Foundation, the Foundation for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Washington, D.C.-based Truck Rental and Leasing Association (TRALA). He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for TRALA for the 2021-22 term.
B.T. enjoys hunting, fishing, shooting sports and travel. He is married with two children.
Bill Gaff – Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Bill Gaff has worked in the environmental industry for over 30 years starting out as a service technician at then Peabody Myers (Vactor Manufacturing and a subsidiary of Federal Signal). He has held various management positions including, President of The Air and Water Group of Federal Signal which included Vactor Mfg., Guzzler and Jetstream. Gaff also held the positions of President of Vactor Manufacturing, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Vice President of Industrial Products and Vice President of Strategic Sales. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance and business administration from Illinois State University and graduated from the Executive Program of the University of Michigan. He served on the WJTA-IMCA Board of Directors as Chairman of the Board for 10 years.