AstraZeneca Fleet Sustainability Champion in the U.S. Retires

Barbara Zuroick, U.S. fleet & safety manager at AstraZeneca, retired from the global biopharamceutical company on June 2023. Zuroick was recognized as a leader in sustainability, championing AstraZeneca’s transition to a zero-emission fleet. During her tenure, Zuroick was responsible for transitioning 90% of the U.S. commercial ICE vehicle fleet to hybrid vehicles by year-end 2022.

Zuroick’s career at AstraZeneca spanned 26-and-a-half years in different financial capacities: ranging from senior financial analyst, various roles in field sales and business support, and most recently as the fleet and safety manager in the procurement group.

In 2022, Zuroick was one of the nominees for Auotmotive Fleet's Professionl Fleet Manager of the Year Award.

Transition to Zero-Emission Fleet

During this time, AstraZeneca  launched its “Ambition Zero Carbon” project to introduce electric vehicles in fleet operations, which includes installing chargers in the homes of employee drivers. Between 2021-2023, approximately 30% of AstraZeneca’s U.S. fleet of nearly 5,000 vehicles were converted to EVs. Her efforts landed AstraZeneca’s U.S. fleet the No.10 ranking on Automotive Fleet magazine’s Top 50 Green Fleet listing.

Earlier, AstraZeneca demonstrated leadership in committing to the transition to an EV fleet by joining the EV100 initiative. To help AstraZeneca meet its  corporate goal of zero-carbon emissions by 2025, Zuroick’s involvement started with an in-depth assessment of the company fleet. She analyzed fleet usage to identify the vehicles best suited to transition to EVs.

She also identified numerous internal business partners to assist AstraZeneca in this effort ranging from procurement, finance, internal  communications, and human resources, as well as partnering with EV OEMs, along with its fleet management company, Wheels.  

Earlier, in 2017, Zuroick launched an aggressive Go Green initiative to convert the entire AstraZeneca U.S. fleet to hybrids. Today, with 90% of the AstraZeneca U.S. fleet currently comprised of hybrid vehicles, its carbon emissions were reduced by 173 tons and the fleet’s average fuel economy was increased to 38 mpg.

AZ Wins Global Fleet Team of Year Award

Just prior to Zuroick’s retirement, AstraZeneca won the 2023 Global Fleet Team of the Year Award presented by Automotive Fleet magazine at the Global Fleet Conference in Miami. Among the specifics cited were AstraZeneca’s leadership in sustainability, fleet safety, cost containment, the adoption of technology-based solutions, and its global collaboration with its numerous partners to achieve its corporate goal to be carbon neutral by 2025 and carbon negative by 2030.

In addition to the electrification of its fleet and the installation of home charging units, AstraZeneca plans to leverage other advanced technologies, such as telematics, implementing data-driven decision-making to improve fleet performance.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Zuroick worked as a staff accountant at The New York Times, Sports Magazine Group from 1994-1996. Earlier, Zuroick worked in commercial  banking as a financial analyst for J.P. Morgan from 1993-1994.

In 2011, Zuroick earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a 4.0 grade point average from Wilmington University. Earlier, Zuroick graduated from Holy Family University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.