8 Fleet Professionals Inducted to Fleet Hall of Fame

Each year, Automotive Fleet and the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) induct new honorees into the Fleet Hall of Fame. In 2010, eight new fleet professionals were inducted.

The Fleet Hall of Fame was instituted to recognize fleet industry leaders and pioneers who have contributed significantly to the commercial fleet management profession with fleet careers spanning 10 years or more.

Established in 2008 with 20 founding members, the number of annual inductees will decrease by one each year, until three are installed in 2015. Thereafter, three honorees will be inducted into the Fleet Hall of Fame at AFLA's annual conference. Nominations are placed in an online ballot for voting by the industry.

Mike Antich

Automotive Fleet
Editor & Associate Publisher
Dates in Fleet: 1985-present

Antich has been heavily involved in the fleet industry for more than 25 years, writing and editing more than 5,000 articles on fleet management, in addition to his active membership in a number of industry associations, including the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA), NAFA Fleet Management Association (NAFA), and the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA). Antich is a past AFLA president, a 15-year member of the NAFA Foundation Board of Directors, long-time member of the NAFA Affiliates Committee, and was a member of the committee that helped create the Affiliates position on the NAFA Board of Trustees. He was chairman of the IARA industry task force that developed the first-ever Certified Automotive Remarketers (CAR) program and has served 10 years on the IARA Board of Directors, in addition to being an officer and secretary.

George Argueta

Fleet Manager, Celanese Corp.
Salex/CCM
Regional Marketing Manager
Dates in Fleet: 1965-present

As one of the first NAFA Affiliate trustees, Argueta has been actively involved with the association and achieved NAFA Lifetime Honorary Membership in 2001. He was appointed to regional marketing manager for Corporate Claims Management (CCM) in 2001. Previously, he spent 20 years as a fleet manager and also served as president of Salex Fleet Services.

Hal Barton

Chrysler Corp.
GMAC
Lincoln-Mercury Division
General Manager of Fleet Operations (retired)
Dates in Fleet: 1950-1992

Barton held sales, finance, and fleet executive positions with GMAC, Ford, and Chrysler. At Chrysler and Lincoln-Mercury Division, he was responsible for all fleet, leasing, and rental market sales and marketing activities.

Helene Kamon

Wendy’s/AmeriFleet Transportation
Dates in Fleet: 1970-present

Kamon began her industry career in 1970 working for Dealers CadiLease, later purchased by Union Leasing. She went on to manage Wendy’s fleet for 11 years starting with 350 vehicles, which grew to 2,000 in the U.S. and Canada by the time she left. Before joining AmeriFleet in her current position as vice president of sales, Kamon ran her own driveaway company for seven years. An active figure in the fleet industry, Kamon was the first female president of AFLA (1988-1989) and is a NAFA Affiliate.

Don Kreft

LeasePlan USA
President/CEO (retired)
Currently Co-owner, Transport Solutions
Dates in Fleet: 1965-present

Kreft, a sales and management executive in the fleet management industry since 1965, served as president/CEO of LeasePlan USA from 1986 through 2000. During his tenure, LeasePlan grew from 1,100 vehicles to more than 125,000. Kreft also negotiated the acquisition of Consolidated Service Corp., and oversaw implementation of EDI and ePlan. He also served LeasePlan in a global capacity as an SVP of LeasePlan Corp., and as a director of LeasePlan International. Kreft was also a board member of the American Automotive Leasing Association (AALA) and the Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association (AFLA). Currently, he is an owner of Transport Solutions of America (TSOA), heading up the company's sales and marketing efforts as principal and chief marketing officer.

Sam Penn

PHH
Executive Vice President (retired)
Dates in Fleet: 1969-1990

Penn contributed significantly to the growth of fuel and vehicle management services and PHH’s domestic vehicle management services. He joined Peterson, Howell & Heather (PHH) in 1969 as a regional buying manager, moved up to vice president of sales and service, and became president in 1974. In 1978, he was appointed to senior vice president of PHH Group (now PHH) and president of the domestic vehicle management operations. Penn was named executive vice president of PHH Group in 1981. He handled executive responsibilities for PHH facilities management business from 1987 until his retirement in 1990.

Wayne Smolda

CEI
Founder/CEO
Dates in Fleet: 1980-present

In 1983, Smolda founded CEI, today the largest independent accident management company, serving more than 400 clients with over 450,000 vehicles. He developed DriverCare.com in 2002 and launched CEI Europe in 2003. Smolda was a member of the Board of Directors of Providence Washington Insurance Company (1998-2006), is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Arbitration Forums, Inc., and has been a member of the NAFA Fleet Management Association since 1983.

Jack Taylor

Enterprise Holdings
Founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Dates in Fleet: 50+ years

After serving as an F6F Hellcat fighter pilot aboard the USS Essex and USS Enterprise during World War II, Taylor founded Executive Leasing in 1957 with just seven cars in the lower level of a Cadillac distributorship. In 1969, Taylor named the company Enterprise Leasing in honor of the aircraft carrier in which he served and renamed it Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1989. After the Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental brands were acquired in 2007, the Taylor family launched a new corporate identity - Enterprise Holdings - for its growing portfolio of transportation businesses, which includes a worldwide network of more than 7,600 airport and neighborhood locations as well as car leasing, vanpooling, car sharing, and hourly rental programs. Through its regional subsidiaries, Enterprise Holdings today operates more than 1 million cars and trucks.