Hello, Employee Owners of Nussbaum!
For those who may have missed it – on the October 15th Dashboard Radio, we announced a company leadership transition. Effective January 1, Brent Nussbaum will transition to the role of Executive Chairman, and I will succeed Brent as CEO.
I want to be open about my priorities and goals as I step into the CEO role. Over the last 25 years, Brent and I have worked very closely on company goals and strategy. I believe we have been very aligned. First, the Statement of Faith, Mission, Vision, Core Values and Core 4 will continue to guide my priorities and goals.
Continuing our culture of striving to care for each other is key. I believe our employees are the company’s most valuable asset. If our employees are well cared for, they will take care of each other and our shippers and consignees. Thus, my first priority is to establish a high-level of trust with all of the employee owners that I am here to lead and serve them in a way that continues to make Nussbaum a fulfilling place to work. I want to continue to exemplify the “open door” policy Brent showed me so well. I can learn so much about the business by listening to our people.
As a company, we will continue our focus on strategic priorities such as:
- Be a best fleet to drive for
- Become 100% ESOP owned
- Maintain our OTR fleet of over 300 drivers with a balanced and efficient network, while growing our Dedicated and Open Deck fleets to diversify and bring stability to the overall business
I would like to express my gratitude to Brent for his decades of faithful leadership to this company, and his mentorship and example to me. In addition to serving as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, Brent will continue to be involved with several areas of the business. For example, his passion for the messages of Faith & Family on the trailers will continue to direct the new campaigns you see each year on a portion of our new trailers. He will continue to call and encourage the drivers that receive an exceptional report on truck cleanliness.
At this time, we do not plan to backfill my previous roles as President or CFO. We are blessed with a strong group of accountants that together are fulfilling the CFO duties, including Jeremy Stickling, Noah Zimmerman, and Dustin Huber. I will also continue to be closely involved with our financials.
I also wanted to share a bit about myself for those who don’t know me. I started at Nussbaum in accounting in 1998, then spent a number of years splitting time between accounting, sales, and pricing. I have been married to my lovely wife, Heidi, for over 30 years and we have 7 children and 9 grandchildren.
Thank you for taking the time to read this message! If you have any questions or would like to connect with me, please stop by my office or give me a call!
