newsworthy
Welch confirmed as
YRC’s next CEO
ON JULY 21, DALLAS-BASED TRUCKER DYNAMEX INC.
announced that its CEO, James L. Welch, was resigning. Late July 22,
Welch was named the new CEO of less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Worldwide Inc., replacing the now-retired William D.
Zollars. On July 25—the following Monday—Welch began work, as
did a brand new eight-member board of directors.
If that seems like a tightly compressed transition period for the
top job at a $4.5 billion-a-year company, there’s good reason for it.
Welch has little time to waste.
The good news for YRC employees and investors is that Welch, 55,
is probably the best fit for the job, having spent seven years running
the former Yellow Transportation, which became YRC National following Yellow’s 2003 acquisition of rival Roadway Express and the
subsequent integration of the two.
Those who know Welch say he has
earned the respect of both managers
and labor. Indeed, he never would
have been picked without the consent
of the Teamsters union, which represents more than 25,000 YRC employees and actively participated in the
CEO selection process. The union played a key role in rescuing YRC
from the brink of bankruptcy at the end of 2009 and has made significant wage and benefit concessions in the past 30 months to keep
the company solvent.
Welch starts with some financial breathing room. The day his hiring was announced, Overland Park, Kan.-based YRC concluded the
final phase of a multi-month restructuring effort, disclosing that it
will issue convertible notes to raise $100 million of new capital and
replace a three-year asset-based securitization program with a new
loan structure that the company said would provide additional liquidity and financial flexibility. It also swapped part of its loans for
the issuance of new securities, including equity. That step will alleviate the company’s debt burden but add potentially billions of outstanding shares to its equity base, a step that would leave current
stockholders with nearly worthless shares.
Welch also takes over at a time when the LTL industry is finally seeing a pickup in demand and profitability after several years of weak
traffic trends, overcapacity, and destructive rate wars. At this writing,
four LTL carriers—including YRC—had announced rate increases of
6. 9 percent on non-contractual traffic. More LTL carriers are now
reporting profits than at any time in the past three to four years. Even
YRC’s beleaguered long-haul unit posted what the company termed
“adjusted operating income” in the second quarter, the first time it
has been in the black in three years, the company said. p. 18
Industrial Truck
Association head to retire
The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) has
announced that William J. Montwieler, the
group’s executive director for 28 years, will
retire on Dec. 31.
Montwieler will be succeeded by Brian
Feehan, vice president of the Propane
Education & Research Council, ITA said in a
statement. Feehan will join ITA this fall
and take over on Jan. 1.
“Bill’s 28 years of service to the association have been marked by major changes
to and improvement in the services that
ITA offers its members. The association’s
statistics program, its engineering practices, the work with the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),
the establishment of the Industrial Truck
Standards Development Foundation, [and]
the enhancement of our contacts with our
sister associations abroad through the
Alliance of Industrial Truck Organizations
all came about under Bill’s leadership,”
said Jeff Rufener, president of ITA.
Rufener also lauded Feehan’s commitment to ITA, saying he has attended every
association meeting for the past six years
and has been a key contributor to advancing ITA’s air quality agenda.
Montwieler said, “I have had the pleasure of working with Brian over the course
of the last several years and I am convinced that he has the experience, the
ability and the desire to help lead the
membership toward greater profitability.”
Looking back on his tenure with the
group, Montwieler called the adoption of
sweeping OSHA regulations improving the
safety of industrial truck operations his
“crowning achievement” over the past 28
years at ITA.
“Those regulations wouldn’t have happened without ITA,” he said. “Every member can be proud that, thanks mainly to
the association’s efforts, the lives of many
operators have been saved and countless
injuries have been avoided.” ;
