Driver of the Year
Chuck Carmin was named Ruan Transportation Management Systems’ 2013 Driver of the Year Wednesday after being selected from a pool of more than 4,200 professional drivers.
Carmin, who operates out of T135 in Ft. Wayne, IN, has been with Ruan since 2002 and has logged more than 3 million miles during his 40 years as a professional truck driver.
Ruan began the search for our Driver of the Year when 156 drivers from Ruan’s 260 operations were named Region Finalists based on length of service, safety, driving records and exceptional customer service. Region vice presidents then narrowed the field further to 14 Region Winners, who traveled to Des Moines with a guest July 15-17 for an award ceremony and other festivities. Out of the 14 Region Winners, Ruan’s senior leaders selected Carmin.
Each Region Winner was awarded a trophy and cash prize at the Driver and Terminal of the Year award ceremony at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates. Carmin, who hauls for Ruan customer Linde Industrial Gases, was honored with a trophy, a cash prize and the 2013 Driver of the Year title.
Terminal of the Year
Also on Wednesday, the Spring Valley, IL, operation, led by Terminal Manager Darrin Ross, was named the 2013 Terminal of the Year.
The Spring Valley terminals, which serve Marmon/Keystone and FleetPride, were selected based on their demonstration of our Guiding Principles of Safety Focus, People First, Customer Satisfaction, Exceptional Performance and Continuous Improvement.
To select the terminal of the year, each of our seven region vice presidents selected a terminal in their region that performs at the highest level. That performance was based on 12 criteria ranging from safety to employee retention, customer satisfaction and financial performance. Our senior leadership team then narrowed the list of Region Finalists to three Region Winners. In addition to Spring Valley, T125 in Ft. Wayne, IN, led by Terminal Manager Randy Knapke, and T582 and T113 in Phoenix, AZ, led by Terminal Manager Dave Cochran, were honored as Region Winners. Senior leaders selected the Spring Valley operation as the Terminal of the Year from among the three Region Winners.
The 2013 Terminal of the Year received a trophy, awards for all winning terminal team members and a corporate-hosted celebration at the terminal, which will take place in August.
Congratulations to our Driver of the Year and our Terminal of the Year, as well as all of our Region Winners!