NPTC/TransForce Group Present Professional Leadership Awards

The Council’s top award, the Dan Smith Lifetime Achievement Award, is to Matt Peterson, CTP, Remarketing Sales Manager, Mack Trucks/Volvo Trucks. The Dan Smith Lifetime achievement award honors an individual who has made significant leadership contributions in helping advance the goals and objectives of the Council and whose contributions serve as an exemplary model for future NPTC-member private fleet professionals.

Matt has been actively engaged with NPTC for nearly three decades. His voice and actions speak to the commitment and tremendous educational value that this organization (NPTC) brings our private fleet industry.  Staying involved, learning from his peers, and most importantly building industry relationships has been his way to engage others to actively participate in NPTC.   He has attended the NPTC Annual Conference for 25-plus consecutive years and served as Chair of the NPTC Board of Directors for two years.  He is the only representative from an Allied/Supplier company in the history of the Council to serve as Chairman of NPTC’s Board. Matt served for four years as a regular member of the NPTC Board of Directors representing the Third-Party Provider division. Matt attended the Private Fleet Management Institute and earned his CTP designation in 1999.  Since then, he has mentored several CTP candidates to successful completion of their certification. Through Mack Leasing System or Volvo Truck Leasing System, he has sponsored multiple NPTC events including keynote speakers at the Annual Conference; a Summer On-site Safety Committee meeting at Mack’s Allentown, PA., Customer Center test track and production facility; a PFMI off-site reception and demonstration event; complimentary one-year memberships of several private fleet companies; and exhibits at dozens of NPTC Annual Conferences and Trade Shows. Matt was a major influence in Mack Leasing System becoming a Five-Star member of NPTC and having a company representative serve on the NPTC Institute Board of Governors.

Recognized as the Private Fleet Executive of the Year is David Barth, CTP, Transportation Area Manager, Wegmans Food Markets. With more than 36 years of experience in the transportation, warehouse, and distribution industry, David has worked at Wegmans Food Markets for the last twenty-one years. Since 2012 he has held his current position of Transportation Area Manager for Wegmans Retail Service Center in Pottsville, PA., where he oversees Wegmans’ private fleet as well as Wegmans’ dedicated third-party carriers.

Jeff Bronson, Senior Director of Transportation, Atlas Trucking Company & Atlas Logistics, is honored as the NPTC Private Fleet Manager of the Year. Jeff assumed his role in 2014 as Senior Director of Transportation at Atlas. In January 2019, he opened Atlas Fleet Services which is now one of the largest heavy truck/trailer repair facilities in Southern Michigan. Prior to joining Atlas, Jeff built flatbed divisions for two other carriers. He also started and owned three other transportation companies for ten years.

Jeff influenced Atlas to join as a Five-Star member of the Council and he serves as member of the NPTC Institute Board of Governors. He has served as a speaker at NPTC’s Annual Conference and ACT Research seminar on behalf of NPTC. Jeff sent Atlas staff members to the PFMI and CTP programs and authorized his Director of Safety to present as a lead speaker at the National Safety Conference and NPTC/JJ Keller webcast series. Jeff contributed background information for two articles published in Fleet Owner magazine about the Atlas private fleet and the opening of Atlas Fleet Services.

Named as the Private Fleet Safety Professional of the Year is Duane Woods, CTP, Senior Director of Transportation Operations, Albertsons Companies. Duane started with Safeway Stores in 1991 as a dispatcher/backhaul coordinator after graduating from Grand Canyon University with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Management. His experience as a private fleet manager and corporate director includes overseeing U.S., Canada and Mexico operations with Safeway.

Currently, he serves as Senior Director of Transportation Operations with Albertsons Companies, overseeing fleet operations and safety. Duane attended the PFMI and earned his CTP® certification in 2011 as the “pioneering graduate” from Safeway. He earned his Lean Six Sigma Belt in 2012. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the NPTC Institute Board of Governors and is a mentor and promoter of candidates for the CTP credential.  Duane is a frequent speaker at the NPTC Annual Conferences and a faculty member of the Private Fleet Management Institute. He serves as an Advisory Committee member of the Benchmarking Report.

Chris Fada, CTP, General Manager, Ross Transportation Services, Inc., is named NPTC Excellence in Membership Award (Fleet). After spending 13 years with Roadway/YRC Freight in Chicago and various locations in northeast Ohio, Chris joined Ross Transportation Services, Inc., and is currently their General Manager. Prior to working for Roadway, he was involved in adult education and training in safety and hazardous materials with the University of Findlay in Ohio.

Chris attended the Private Fleet Management Institute and earned his CTP® in 2013. He has mentored several PFMI and CTP candidates over the years and is a member of the NPTC Annual Conference Planning Committee. A benchmarking contributor to NPTC, Chris has served as a speaker and panelist at many NPTC events.

Rosemary Schaffer, CTP, Director, Non-Profit Business, Penske Truck Leasing Company, receives the NPTC Excellence in Membership Award (Allied). Actively involved with NPTC for more than 12 years, Rosemary attended the Private Fleet Management Institute and earned her CTP® credential in 2008. Since becoming a CTP, she has mentored many CTP candidates and helped recruit numerous prospective NPTC members. For many years, Penske has been the sponsor of the First-Timer Reception on the first day of each NPTC Annual Conference.

On behalf of Penske, Rosemary is Master of Ceremonies for this event and always gives a spirited, inspirational talk welcoming “first-timers” and introducing them to the value of NPTC and its Annual Conference. A long-standing member of the NPTC Annual Conference Planning Committee, Rosemary now serves on the NPTC Board of Directors representing the Third-Party Provider division.

TransForce Group offers a suite of workforce solutions for every aspect of the transportation and logistics industry with its four service lines: Education and Training; Digital Recruiting; Employment Solutions, and Compliance and Safety. David Broome, President and CEO, has been actively involved with NPTC since 1991 and is widely respected as a cutting-edge leader in the transportation workforce industry. TransForce Group’s active involvement with NPTC includes: Five-Star membership; member, NPTC Institute Board of Governors; sponsors, NPTC Professional Leadership Awards program, NPTC’s National Safety Conference, the Private Fleet Management Institute, and the Washington Report; charter exhibitor at National Safety Conference and exhibitor at NPTC’s Annual Conference; and management team participation in PFMI and Certified Transportation Professional (CTP®) programs.

The NPTC Excellence in Backhauling Award goes to Frito-Lay, Inc. Frito-Lay’s 28 traffic centers have historically operated with a decentralized organizational structure. In the spring 2018, the Supply Chain Organization made a strategic decision to centralize Transportation into one vertical team.

As a result, the transportation team was able to develop a strategy to increase and better utilize its over-the-road capacity to improve the national network efficiency by increasing both outbound and inbound loads hauled by the private fleet. In addition, they increased collaboration within PepsiCo to leverage the Frito-Lay and PepsiCo fleets to haul more of each other’s freight and reduce carrier expense for Quaker and Gatorade in a “Better Together” Transportation strategy. As a result, Frito-Lay’s finished goods carrier ran 96.5% to prior year volume and backhaul revenue increased 107% compared to the previous year, delivering over 8% productivity to Frito-Lay’s bottom line.