The Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) installed Kirk Altrichter, vp of maintenance for Pacific, WA-based Gordon Trucking, as its 2013-14 general chairman and treasurer during its annual meeting in Nashville, TN.
Others named as well to serve as TMC officers in the new term include are vice chairman & chairman of meetings, Dan Umphress of Fleet Advantage; as chairman of Study Groups, Kevin Tomlinson of South Shore Transportation; and as immediate past chairman, Lee Long of Southeastern Freight Lines.
At the Nashville meeting, TMC also awarded its highest honor— the Silver Spark Plug Award — to five trucking industry professionals. The recipients were:
- Bonne Karim, retired fleet training manager for United States Postal Service
- Kirk Altrichter, vp of maintenance for Gordon Trucking
- Tony Tierney, western regional sales manager for BorgWarner
- Ken Kelley, president of Webb Severe Duty, Cullman
- Ken Calhoun, vp for customer relations, Truck Centers of Arkansas
- Ken DeGrant, field applications engineering manager, DG Technologies
According to TMC, these members were honored for their “outstanding contributions to the improvement of equipment, maintenance, industry-related technology and management practices.” Since the award’s inception in 1968, 94 individuals have been recognized with the Silver Spark Plug Award. Both fleet representatives and members of the supplier community are eligible.
Also honored was Bob Flesher, retired maintenance manager for FedEx Ground and TMC general chairman and treasurer in 1991, who was presented with TMC’s Peggy Fisher Study Group Leadership Award. The award, established in 1986 and named after its first recipient, recognizes an individual for outstanding leadership as Study Group chairman as well as for outstanding leadership and contributions to TMC and the transportation industry.
According to TMC, Flesher has served the council in “almost every capacity possible and has won every award a fleet member can attain.” During the past year, he led TMC’s Strategic Planning Committee and will continue to lead it through implementation of its five-year strategic plan.
TMC named Schneider National’s Kirk Kabel as its Front-Line Supervisor of the Year. Candidates for this award were all employed in direct supervision of maintenance technicians and exhibited superior performance in equipment maintenance supervision.
TMC noted that it will hold its 2013 Fall Meeting and National Technician Skills Competition Sept. 9-12 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. TMC SuperTech 2013 will be the ninth such competition and will include finalists from state and corporate technician competitions.
