• Great Dane appoints new CEO and new president

    Great Dane President Dean Engelage will succeed current CEO Bill Crown effective Jan. 1, while EVP of engineering Rick Mullininx will become the new president and chief operating officer of the trailer manufacturer.
    Dec. 20, 2022
    3 min read
    Great Dane
    Dean Engelage Great Dane Ceo 63a0ba87c5ad7
    Great Dane CEO Bill Crown will step down from his position at the trailer manufacturer, effective Jan. 1, 2023, with Dean Engelage, Great Dane’s president, to replace him, according to a Great Dane press release.

    “It has been a privilege to serve Great Dane as CEO over the past 25 years, where both our internal team and our customers feel like family,” Crown said. “Dean and I have worked closely together, and Dean has been a terrific leader and president for Great Dane. I step aside with confidence that Great Dane is in good and capable hands.”

    “I am honored to accept my new role as CEO of Great Dane,” Engelage said. “I look forward to working with our dedicated team to further the Company’s market leadership and equip our customers for the future, while maintaining the first-class customer experience they expect from us.”

    See also: Great Dane celebrates 2022 Supplier Award winners

    Dean Engelage joined Great Dane in 2011 as EVP of sales and strategic planning and was later appointed president in 2013. Prior to Great Dane, Engelage worked for American Airlines and General Dynamics in marketing, purchasing and finance, and most recently spent more than 16 years with CC Industries, the management company that manages the Crown family’s portfolio of operating companies, in various management positions.

    Additionally, Bill Crown and Dean Engelage announced that they have named Rick Mullininx to succeed Engelage as president and chief operating officer of Great Dane, also effective Jan. 1, 2023. Mr. Mullininx has been with Great Dane for 40 years and served in various engineering and manufacturing roles within Great Dane for all that time, which makes him one of the company’s most senior associates. He now is EVP of engineering, responsible for product design, production engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality assurance, and customer service.

    See also: Great Dane, Hendrickson reward truck driver who assisted motorist after collision

    “Great Dane is an exceptional company and I take on this new position with excitement and humility,” said Mullininx. “Great Dane’s legacy is a customer-focused approach during every interaction and at every stage of production, providing exceptional equipment that performs well under the most challenging conditions. I’m honored to be part of a legacy that is family-oriented yet future-focused.” 

    Dean Engelage said, “I am delighted to have Rick Mullininx step up to take over responsibility for the day-to-day leadership of the Great Dane Team. I know he will do a terrific job.” 

    Rick Mullininx first joined Great Dane in 1980 when he took a summer engineering position as an intern in the research and development department in Savannah, Georgia. Soon after, he accepted a position as an engineer in production design and development, responsible for developing designs for customer orders. Prior to his most recent role as the EVP of engineering, Mullininx served as the VP of engineering, responsible for the design and production engineering for five trailer product lines in addition to previous manufacturing engineering duties.

    About the Author

    FleetOwner Staff

    Our Editorial Team

    Kevin Jones, Editorial Director, Commercial Vehicle Group

    Josh Fisher, Editor-in-Chief

    Jade Brasher, Senior Editor

    Jeremy Wolfe, Editor

    Jenna Hume, Digital Editor

    Eric Van Egeren, Art Director

    Voice your opinion!

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of FleetOwner, create an account today!

    Sign up for our free eNewsletters

    Latest from News

    4126654 | Phartisan | Dreamstime.com
    driver retention
    Turnover and its causes are expenses we like to ignore or accept as the cost of running a trucking company. In a market like today’s, investing in retention doesn’t mean spending...
    262563459 | Vitpho | Dreamstime.com
    Combat cargo theft: Strategies to protect your fleet in 2025
    Cargo theft is rising in the U.S., fueled by advanced tactics and international rings. Understanding trends and strategies is essential for fleets to safeguard their assets.
    81443784 | Vitpho | Dreamstime.com
    trucking efficiency
    When you couple a truck spec’d properly for its duty cycle with technologies that improve efficiency and a driver who is hyper-focused on fuel efficiency, you’ll have a winning...