The Fleet Executive of the Year award was created to recognize exceptional leadership by managers who hold the title of vice president or higher and/or have other responsibilities beyond fleet. Four fleet executives have been nominated to receive the award later this year.

The CEI Group is the exclusive sponsor for the Fleet Executive of the Year award. 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 2019 AFLA Conference September 15-18 at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona.

The nominees are as follows:

Kenneth Jack 

Verizon Communications, Fleet Operations

• Total Vehicles: 30,400

• Staff supervised: 8

• Years in Fleet: 25

• Replacement Policy: Spans 4 - 12 years depending on the operation and type of asset

Kenneth Jack is the vice president of fleet operations for Verizon Communications. His team of over 500 employees and contractors oversee policy and all life-cycle activities associated with over 30,000 pieces of equipment. His responsibilities also include achieving sustainability and efficiency targets for the company’s mobile fleet, the integration of new technologies and driving significant mobility-related business transformation, which focuses on improving shareholder-value and operational excellence at over 270 maintenance facilities across the country.

During Jack’s tenure, he has navigated the complexities of managing and improving the performance of a diverse fleet that is capable of responding to customer’s and first responder’s needs nationwide. He also works cross functionally with internal operations and sales to help ensure fluidity between departments and that products are meeting the needs of customers and stakeholders.

He was previously general manager of transportation operations for Consolidated Edison Co. of New York as well as Orange and Rockland Utilities. He has held positions of increasing responsibility throughout his career in the public-utility sector, including roles in engineering, maintenance and construction, transportation and supply-chain, as well as substation operations planning where he was responsible for project-management of the company’s electric infrastructure upgrades and expansion. 

He holds certificates in the maintenance and design of electric and steam distribution systems from both Siemens and PSE and received training through Con Edison, FEMA and NYCOEM in emergency management and aided in the 9/11 recovery as well as other disasters in the New York area.

He serves as an advisory board member to WEX, and has served on the board of directors for the YMCA of Greater New York and has volunteered with organizations such as FIRST Robotics, the American Association of Blacks in Energy and the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Jeff Hitzke

LabCorp, VP

• Total Vehicles: 5,800

• Staff supervised: 4

• Years in Fleet: 10

• Replacement Policy: 110,000 miles for gas and hybrids, 150,000 miles for diesels

Jeff Hitzke leads his team on the successful management of LabCorp’s fleet of 5,800 SUVs, minivans and full-size vans. The LabCorp fleet continues to run a best-in-class fleet at .37 cents per mile, which average around 3,300 miles a month.

Fuel has always been the largest expense and has always been between 40 and 45% of total spend. Hitzke asked his team to investigate different ways to reduce this spend. Under his leadership, LabCorp made their first move to diesel station wagons but as those vehicles became unavailable, the team needed to come up with a creative solution to meet their needs. With his guidance, many manufacturers were asked for recommendation; their fleet management company was asked to do an extensive TCO analysis for the new courier vehicles. A midsize SUV was selected to replace these diesel station wagons:  LabCorp was then able to run their courier fleet at 24.5 MPG. 

He also challenges his team to maintain strong compliance among their fleet: out of network usage is less than 1% and each year driver mileage reporting is at 98%. But Hitzke isn’t satisfied and is working to achieve 100% compliance by partnering with his FMC. 

In addition, he is heavily involved in LabCorp’s European operations. He led an initiative to streamline operations of 600 European fleet vehicles by consolidating FMCs to just one, as well as narrowing down asset control to two OEMs. 

Hitzke is focused on exploring the latest and greatest technology and mobility solutions. LabCorp plans to pilot small electric vehicles in other areas as well as hybrids and plug-in hybrids. He frequently comes up with ideas from his other areas of responsibility and applies them to his fleet, such as reducing risk within the supply chain.

Carlton Rose 

UPS, President, Global Fleet Maintenance & Engineering  

• Total Vehicles: 347,103

• Staff supervised: 8,000

• Years in Fleet: 39

• Replacement Policy: Age & cost matrix

Carlton Rose is responsible for all facets of global automotive engineering including inventory and asset management, safety performance, procurement of a vehicle fleet of package cars, tractors, trailers and containers, and airport gateway ground support equipment totaling over 320,000 pieces. 

Other responsibilities include vision and strategy development, training and education, cost planning, cost analysis, people development, and career and succession planning. 

Rose leads a dedicated team of nearly 8,000 managers, supervisors, and technicians that support 455,000 employees globally. He oversees an annual budget of more than $2 billion, which does not include fuel expense. 

Rose began his UPS career in Indiana in 1980 as a package handler. He was later promoted to automotive technician, before serving as a package car driver for nearly four years. He was later promoted into management as an automotive line supervisor and later to automotive fleet manager. 

Rose’s experience with UPS includes key leadership assignments in package operations, industrial engineering, plant engineering, and sales. He has held director assignments in Ohio, Southern Illinois, Kentucky, and Georgia. He was promoted to senior staff manager as the southeast region automotive group manager in 2002. He accepted the same position for UPS’s central region in 2009. Rose was promoted to vice president, corporate fleet maintenance for U.S. operations in 2012. He was promoted to his current position in 2016. 

He is a graduate of UPS’s Community Internship Program where he spent four weeks at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City working among the poor, disadvantaged, and those in need. He successfully guided UPS’s Southeast Region United Way Campaign in 2006 and 2007. During that period of his leadership, the region raised over $12 million. Other civic activities include serving as a United Way Loaned Executive. 

Mike Lisi 

Encova Insurance, VP, Corporate Services and Real Estate

• Total Vehicles: 203

• Staff supervised: 3

• Years in Fleet: 16

• Replacement Policy: Currently 3 years or 65,000 miles

Michael Lisi is accountable for fleet, real estate, leasing, travel, and food services at Encova Insurance, formerly Motorists Insurance Group and BrickStreet Insurance, which affiliated in 2017. 

In support of the affiliation, Lisi and his team instituted an enhanced fleet policy to integrate Motorists and BrickStreet under a collective operation. This policy was reviewed, and buy-in was obtained from the senior leadership team to instill a best-in-class fleet management policy. To scale operations appropriately, they maintained the fleet headcount by outsourcing and automating existing administrative functions.  

Lisi’s team also altered the fleet make-up to reduce acquisition costs, while seeking an optimal funding solution and cycle parameter. Leasing emerged as the ideal solution to streamline the fleet’s footprint efficiently and cost effectively. With the current strategy, Encova will save $300,000 over the next three years by converting to operating leases.

The team helped implement telematics through the entire vehicle fleet; and leveraged telematics to replace under-utilized pool vehicles with short term, on-demand solutions. In partnership with their FMC, they implemented deviceless capabilities to quickly expand the use of telematics and reinforce safe driving behaviors to the broader fleet. 

Lisi’s team reviews all fleet OEM offerings annually, and has been with its current OEM, General Motors, since 2003. The Encova team is continuously looking for opportunities to save money, protect employees, and operate more efficiently.  

A super-regional carrier ranked in the top 20 mutual insurance companies in the U.S., Encova includes premiums in excess of $1 billion, a surplus in excess of $1.46 billion and assets in excess of $4.1 billion.