The Fleet Executive of the Year award was created to recognize exceptional leadership by managers to whom the fleet function reports and/or have other responsibilities beyond fleet. Four fleet executives have been nominated to receive the award later this year.

A panel of industry judges will evaluate criteria submissions including cost-saving initiatives, policy setting, creation of innovative programs, and cultivation of fleet manager training and management. 

The Fleet Executive of the Year award, along with the Edward J. Bobit Professional Fleet Manager of the Year award, will be announced at the 2020 AFLA NextGen Conference, which will be hosted virtually this October 5-7, 2020.

David Reyes, managing director of procurement, real estate, and fleet, Rollins, Inc.

• Total Vehicles: 12,000+

• Years in Fleet: 10

Reyes is a supply chain executive with a proven track record of building organizational competencies and leading significant strategic change, resulting in reduced costs, improved asset utilization and return on investment. Based in Atlanta, Ga., Reyes has served as Rollins’ managing director of procurement, real estate and fleet since 2017. For the prior 12 years, he served in leadership roles at both Recall and Iron Mountain.

As a data-driven manager, Reyes has been integral in setting a series of key performance indicators to help monitor the performance of the Rollins fleet. His leadership ensured a variety of measurable targets were in place for vehicle acquisition and delivery; maintenance and repair; accidents and subrogation; and driver and fleet office support. Additional achievements under Reyes’ leadership involve streamlining vehicle ordering, including a reduction in the number of specifications through standardization, mitigating toll violation payments and improving the remarketing process.

Reyes oversees a fleet of over 12,000 vehicles related to over 20 U.S.-based brands contained within the parent company, Rollins Inc. These include Orkin, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Clark Pest Control, Western Pest Services, Northwest Exterminating and a number of other national, regional, and local pest and wildlife control brands. Overall, Rollins Inc. operates over 700 locations in 55 countries.  

Charlie Stevenson, CAFM, VP of fleet operations, Essential Utilities

• Total Vehicles: 2,300

• Years in Fleet: 33

Stevenson is the vice president of fleet for Essential Utilities Inc. Essential is one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater and natural gas providers in the U.S., serving approximately 5 million people in 10 states.

In this role, Stevenson oversees fleet operations across the Essential 10-state footprint and has responsibilities for more than 2,300 vehicles and 1,100 pieces of mechanical equipment. He leads a team focused on serving and advocating for internal customers' needs, leads business enhancement efforts, drives strategic planning and supports merger and acquisition work. He is Chairman of the Aqua Safety Committee, responsible for leading safety throughout fleet.

Stevenson joined Aqua in 1987 as a fleet service technician. In his nearly 35 years with the company, he has held various positions of increased responsibility, including fleet technician, fleet supervisor, fleet manager, director fleet and materials management, vice president of supply chain, and now vice president of fleet for Essential Utilities. He has automated many manual processes and excels at providing efficiencies to the organization.

He is a known leader in alternative fuels, winning both the Alternatives Fuel Leadership award in 2017 and being named the 2014 Sustainability All-Star Winner for reducing emissions and fuel consumption as a result of his work to incorporate CNG vehicles into the fleet.

Yogi Shivdasani, VP, North America supply chain, LKQ Corp.

• Total Vehicles: 6,200

• Years in Fleet: 5

Shivdasani is recognized for a relentless focus on fleet efficiency and reducing TCO. 

Some of his efforts include streamlining LKQ’s ordering process. Prior to Shivdasani’s leadership, LKQ allowed the field to choose the truck for their region, which caused its fleet to span numerous manufacturers and truck types with no consistency. By standardizing the offering to select manufacturers and a few truck variations that would work throughout its fleet, he reduced rental expenses and acquisition costs. Shivdasani and LKQ have also reduced the average vehicle age by 20 months due to a disciplined approach to cycling vehicles. The savings for this add up to $2.4 million, annually. 

One of his 2019 initiatives was to collaborate with his FMC to develop a low utilization and inactivity dashboard for the field/leadership for vehicle optimization. Since the initial implementation of this tool in mid-2019, which involved repurposing these vehicles or cycling them out of the fleet to reduce costs, LKQ has realized savings of $4 million. 

 Another initiative he led was to reduce the average fleet idling from about two hours per location. By working with his field leadership, idling has dropped to an average between 15 and 20 minutes. As a result of his dedication to these efforts, LKQ saw this savings increase to $7.5 million in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he implemented a touchless delivery confirmation for all locations, ensuring the protection of all employees and customers.

Keven Kelleher, VP of real estate and administration, Champion Home Exteriors

• Total Vehicles: 520

• Years in Fleet: 5

Kelleher manages a diverse real estate portfolio consisting of 60 locations (office, industrial and retail) in 30 states to include lease restructuring, real estate strategy, site selection, lease negotiation, project build out, renovations and relocations. 

Kelleher has been described by industry peers as a great partner and was acknowledged for his support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He serves as fleet manager for a fleet that includes more than 520 corporate service and install trucks which involves day to day management, safety, evaluating and right-sizing inventory, reducing overhead and increasing utilization.

Other areas he is involved in include: travel and expense; corporate cell phones; corporate American Express; Lowes and Home Depot credit program; special projects; and purchasing. 

Before this, he served as vice president for construction company Miller-Valentine Group where he served in real estate consulting, and prior to this was the VP of real estate for LCA Vision. 

While at Miller-Valentine Group, Kelleher focused on using quantifiable and measurable criteria in the support of the execution of client’s real estate strategies.

Earlier, Kelleher served as a captain for the United States Marine Corps in Camp Pendleton, Calif.