TORRANCE, CA – Eleven fleet managers were nominated to compete for the 2009 Automotive Fleet Professional Fleet Manager of the Year award. Individuals were nominated by industry peers for their outstanding leadership and hard work over the past year.

A panel judge of fleet professionals made up of previous fleet manager award winners, manufacturers, auction companies, fleet management companies, dealers, and AF staff will review the nominations and narrow the finalists down to three.

The announcement for the final three (to be featured in the April issue of the magazine) will be made in the upcoming months, and the winner announced on Sunday, April 26, at NAFA's Institute & Expo in New Orleans.

The following individuals have been nominated for their achievements this past year:

Theresa F. Anderson, Parsons

Theresa Belding, Forest Pharmaceuticals

Sue Burke, Carestream Health

Christy Coyte, Johnson Controls

Joseph Fiorelli, Cardno-TBE Group, Inc.

Jeffrey Hurrell, Hewlett Packard

Jason Pucely, Best Buy

Milton "Bud" Reuter, Comcast

Dean Saunders, The Wackenhut Corp.

Jack Scott, ConocoPhillips

Michael Sims, Church of the Latter Day Saints

Full bios for these nominees will be published in the March issue of Automotive Fleet. 

The following panel of judges will help select the 2009 Professional Fleet Manager of the Year:

*Fleet Managers

• Dick Prettyman, Cephalon

• Charles Bowen, Rollins

• Susan Miller, McDonalds

• Stephen Levine, Pfizer

• Shirley Collins, Glaxo-Wellcome

• Patsy Brownson, Cox Enterprises

• Debbie Mize, Hallmark

• Jim Anselmi, Lorillard

• Jim McCarthy, Siemens

• Scott Mayo, Wendy's

• Lynda Dinwiddie, LabCorp.

• Joe LaRosa, Merck

*Manufacturers

• Brian McVeigh, General Motors

• Kevin Koswick, Ford

• Pat Dougherty, Chrysler

• Scott Heyer, Toyota

• Ed Fargo, Nissan

*Media

• Ed Bobit, Automotive Fleet

*Auctions

• Hal Logan, Manheim

• Bob Rauschenberg, Adesa

*Fleet Management Services

• Jim Frank, Wheels

• Bill McKee, ARI

• Bob  Mitchell, GE Capital Fleet

• Jim Rallo, PHH

• Greg Tepas, Emkay

• Gary Rappeport, Donlen

• Mike Pitcher, LeasePlan

• Robert Singer, Merchants

• Wayne Smolda, CEI

• Marty Bertagole, Mike Albert

• Bob Martines, CCM

• Scott Mawaka, Fleet Response

*Dealers

• Russ Cass, Piemonte Network

• Joe David, Pacifico Fleet

• Rick Nicoletti, Napleton Group