Patrick Mitchell Wins Fleet Visionary Award

Patrick Mitchell, senior fleet manager for Enel North America, has won Bobit's 2022 Fleet Visionary Award. 

Sponsored exclusively by Merchants Fleet, the Bobit Fleet Visionary Award recognizes bold voices in fleet management and is bestowed upon a fleet professional with 10 years or fewer in the industry with a commercial fleet of 50 vehicles or more. A fleet visionary brings a new perspective to running a commercial fleet resulting in a more operationally efficient, cost-effective, and safer operation by introducing new methods, efficiencies, and technologies.

Mitchell has been in fleet for six years and has been instrumental in transforming the Enel fleet, reducing emissions, and changing driver mindsets regarding hybrids and EVs.

To date in 2022, 15% of all miles traveled in the Enel fleet have utilized a hybrid vehicle and the proportion is increasing. Of those hybrids, 87% of those miles were traveled by pickup trucks that have averaged 12% better fuel economy than their non‐electrified counterparts, reducing CO2 output of nearly six tons.

He also works with the company's e-mobility business line, Enel X Way, to install smart charging infrastructure at Enel offices, plants, and employee homes and has co‐written grant applications to support EV charger implementations.

Mitchell was chosen from three finalists, including Gary Prasad, field services specialist from the City of New York – DCAS Fleet, and Darren Scott, senior sourcing and merchandise category manager, Land O’Lakes.

“I work for tremendous organization that is not only leading change from renewable standpoint, but also pushing for positive change in every aspect,” said Mitchell upon receiving the award. “We can come up with a vision individually, but it's working with teams that allow you to implement that vision. Our strong team, both internally and our partners, have allowed us to reach our sustainability and safety goals.”

The award was presented during presented at the 2022 Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) annual conference on Oct. 11.

Fleet Hall of Fame Inductees

The awards program also celebrated the inductees into the Bobit Fleet Hall of Fame. Three inductees were chosen from 14 finalists.

Tom Coffey, senior vice president, fleet sales & consulting for Merchants Fleet, is a 38-year veteran of the fleet industry. He currently serves as senior vice president of fleet at Merchants Fleet, where he leads 45 business development professionals and provides strategic oversight to Merchants Fleet’s development of industry-leading offerings to the broad fleet client base. 

Throughout his career, Coffey has managed portfolios exceeding a billion dollars in assets for fleet clients across numerous industries, including utility, construction, engineering, and government.

Prior to Merchants Fleet, Coffey served as the senior vice president of sales for Donlen for nearly a decade. He was also the senior vice president of financial solutions for GE Capital, leading business development and client services, as well as the company’s North American efforts in truck fleet services. Coffey also has extensive national sales experience, having held numerous regional fleet sales management positions in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

Janice Sutton has the distinction of being one of the women pioneers in fleet management. She was the first woman to be named to a regional sales manager position at an FMC. Sutton also has the distinction of being the first woman publisher of a fleet publication, Fleet Management Weekly. 

For more than 35 years, she has contributed to the growth and betterment of the fleet industry. After starting her career at Hertz, Sutton held customer-facing positions at Wheels and US Fleet Leasing.

As a writer, editor, publisher, and business manager, she continues to inform and promote fleet through active involvement with NAFA, AFLA, and WIFM. 

Chuck Parker received the award posthumously. In 1996, Parker developed the industry’s first end-user remarketing conference (the Conference of Automotive Remarketing – CAR) to address the high volume of off-lease units that entered the wholesale market during the early years of retail leasing.

In 1998, he created the first digital fleet publishing company, the Automotive Information Network, published the web magazine AutomotiveDigest.com, and distributed nine market segment e-newsletters.

Parker has held significant positions in all the major fleet segments – president of National Car Rental, fleet leasing, truck leasing, and fleet publishing. Parker held senior executive management positions at Avis Leasing, National Car Rental, Rollins Auto Leasing, The LeMans Group, Colonial National Bank, and founded two automotive systems and marketing companies.

Parker also served nine years as publisher of automotive print magazines at Bobit Publishing and held the role of director of electronic media.