The fifth annual class of fleet visionaries were honored at the virtual 2020 Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association's (AFLA) NextGen Conference, which is being hosted virtually, Oct. 5 - 7, 2020.

A total of 11 fleet professionals were honored at an awards ceremony during the conference. Of the group, Aleece Beaulieu, senior program manager of transportation, Genentech, was named Fleet Visionary of the Year.

The Fleet Visionary award is open to any fleet professional who has brought a new perspective to running a commercial fleet with the result that the fleet is more operationally efficient, cost-effective, safer, or any combination of these by introducing new methods, efficiencies, and/or technologies. 

The award, sponsored by Merchants Fleet, is designed to recognize and celebrate new voices in fleet management. This year's winners were recgonized in the Merchants Fleet virtual sponsor booth during the AFLA NextGen conference.

The 10 additional fleet visionary honorees for 2020 were:

• Kerry McGrath, procurement manager, Siemens

• Stephanie Connor, program manager, vehicle administration, FedEx Office

• Russ Wilson, fleet operations manager, KLJ (Kadrmas Lee & Jackson)

• Marca Brown, manager - fleet optimization, DTE Energy

• David Farber, fleet administrator, DISH Network

• Mason Owen, supply chain management analyst, Marathon Petroleum Corp.

• Nancy D'Anna, fleet operations manager, Bayer

• Dan Baker, global commodity manager, Kennametal

• Shelby Beaver, corporate fleet manager and operations, BELFOR Property Restoration

• Beth Wood, fleet manager, MISTRAS Group

Stay tuned for a November 2020 webinar hosted by Merchants Fleet and Automotive Fleet where some of this year's nominees will discuss why they were honored and their fleet best practices.

Earlier in the week at the conference, Lee Pierce of Nutrien Ag Solutions was named the Edward J. Bobit Professional Fleet Manager of the Year, and Yogi Shivdasani of LKQ Corp. was named this year’s Fleet Executive of the Year.