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SEARCHFour fleet professionals are inducted into the 2019 Fleet Hall of Fame for their contributions to the industry.
Four fleet professionals — Joe LaRosa, Bob Miesen, Theresa Ragozine, and Bud Morrison — have been inducted into the 2019 Fleet Hall of Fame for their contributions to the industry.
Hall of Fame members are recognized industry leaders and pioneers who have contributed significantly to the commercial fleet management industry.
Eligible nominees must have at least 10 years of fleet management experience and are nominated by members of the industry.
The Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) is the exclusive sponsor of AF's Fleet Hall of Fame award. Since the award’s founding in 2008, honorees have been recognized during AFLA’s annual conference.
The Fleet Hall of Fame was founded in 2008 with 20 founding members. That same year, an additional 10 honorees were selected by the industry through online voting. Additional nominees are inducted each year, with three honorees currently inducted annually.
Joe LaRosa served as the director, global fleet services for Merck & Co. Inc. was a pre-2000 pioneering manager with global fleet management responsibilities. In 1999 he was named associate director global fleet for Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he managed a global fleet of approximately 14,000 vehicles. LaRosa is also recognized as one of the first people to have global fleet responsibility.
Miesen began his fleet career at Gambles C&M Leasing where he introduced floating rate lease financing utilizing commercial paper as well as lease rate financing based on the London Interbank Offered Rates (LIBOR). He later served as a senior VP of GE Capital Fleet Services for most of his tenure and retired in 2000. He is also an honorary lifetime member of AFLA, AALA, and NAFA.
Theresa Ragozine, who previously served as VP global procurement for Johnson & Johnson, served in the fleet industry for more than 20 years, and cumulatively 36 years with J&J. In 1997 she was named worldwide commodity manager for fleet at Johnson & Johnson, the first person to have overall global fleet responsibility. Johnson & Johnson’s global fleet totaled 33,000 vehicles at the time. She retired from the industry in October 2017 and served as VP procurement of citizenship as her final position with J&J.
Morrison was AFLA’s first president and one of the most successful fleet salesman of all time. He entered the industry in the early 1950s with Don Allen Chevrolet in New York. Twenty years later, he moved to Florida and worked as director of fleet for J.M. Pontiac in Hollywood, Fla. the largest Pontiac dealership in the world.
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