Check Out the Finalists for 2024 Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year

This year’s finalists for the 2024 Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year each have their own unique experience in the fleet world. In the past year, they have driven positive change within their organizations and enacted initiatives that benefit their communities.

Nominees are judged in several key categories including business plan, technology implementation, productivity, policies, preventive maintenance program, utilization management, replacement program, customer service, fuel management, and a key accomplishment from the past year.

Government Fleet will announce the 2024 Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year at The Honors Celebration during the Government Fleet Expo & Conference, which takes place May 7-10 in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Who’s up for the big award this year? Here’s a little more information about them.

Tim Coxwell CAFM CPFP CEM

Fleet Management Division Director

Leon County Sheriff’s Office

Tallahassee, Florida

Years in fleet: 11 as fleet director, 20 years as a fleet vendor, and 30-plus years in the automotive industry. 

Started in the industry as a: General Service at the local Goodyear store #2446, 215 W. Hill Avenue in Valdosta, Georgia, sweeping the floors, taking out trash, and changing oil and tires while I was a student at Valdosta State. 

Most enjoyable aspect of your job:  I love everything about this job, even the trying times, the budget arguments, but what I love most is driver training, interacting with people, introducing new technology, and solving problems. 

How your job, your fleet, and the industry have changed since you first started: Sunrise and sunsets are the only things more certain than the constant change of the automotive industry. When I started in automotive at Goodyear, invoices were handwritten in triplicate, and one person keyed in the invoices. Today, systems use very little paper, yet when I arrived at Leon County Sheriff’s Office in 2013, techs were using legal notepads to record their work and entering invoices into FasterWin when they got around to it. Today they use tablets and document their work as they go in FasterWeb. Telematics allows us to coach drivers and, even further, allow drivers to coach themselves. From carburetors to electric vehicles, change is constant. The evolution of crash data allows cars to be the most reliable witnesses to the crashes they are involved in. Fleet managers ride the waves of change and, when the surf dies, we swim back out and wait for the next wave. 

Proudest accomplishment: Professionally, we flipped our fleet from an average age of 12 years to an average age of 3 between 2018 and 2022. Personally, it has been watching my kids succeed in life. My son continues to find his own way. Surviving two daughters getting married within eight months of each other was emotionally tough. You have tears of joy and reflection as you see them leave the nest and there is an enormous sense of pride in knowing the strong women they’ve become. 

Best advice you were ever given: My dad always told me I could do anything or be anything I wanted to IF and only IF, I wanted it bad enough, put my mind to it, and applied myself. He also told me he didn’t care what I did as a profession, I could collect garbage if I wanted to, but whatever I chose to be, he expected me to be the best at it I could be. 

Something most people may not know about you: I’m from the same hometown as country music star Luke Bryan, American Idol winner Phillip Phillips, and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey. When speaking, I jokingly introduce myself as the 4th most famous person from Leesburg, Ga. I went to school with Luke’s older brother Chris. My sister went to school with Luke. Phillip Phillips is a cousin by marriage of sorts. Buster Posey was a star athlete at Lee County High School, Florida State University (in Tallahassee where I’ve lived since 1996), and the San Francisco Giants. I’m just the Fleet Director at Leon County Sheriff’s Office.   

David Worthington

Fleet Manager

Facilities and Fleet Department

Fleet Management Division

County of Santa Clara, California

Years in fleet: 29 years

Started in the industry as a: General Manager of a private fleet repair and management company. 

Most enjoyable aspect of your job: I am fortunate to work with a dedicated and passionate team of fleet professionals who make a difference every day for our customers, the county organization, and all the communities we work and live within. Also, every day is different, and the odds are good that you will end up saying, “I’ve never seen that before” frequently.

How your job, your fleet, and the industry have changed since you first started: When I joined the industry our fleet management software was Microsoft DOS based, cellular phones were the size of a briefcase, most vehicles were using carburetors, the “Yellow Pages” were the primary source of advertising, the average price for a gallon of gas was $1.00, Google had not been invented yet, and I managed compliance to five different regulatory programs. The industry has changed the perception from a “repair garage” to one of financial, technical, environmental, strategic, and logistical professionals who drive change and overcome challenges that other industries will never encounter. We now oversee and manage compliance to sixty different regulatory programs, are driving all-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, have immediate access to 30,000+ pieces of information for analysis to make fleet data drive decisions, communicate virtually through hundreds of emails a day, and are using software to see another person halfway around the world on our computer screens.

Proudest accomplishment: In 2015, accepting on behalf of our organization and fleet team a United States EPA Clean Air Excellence for Transportation Efficiency Innovations award and the #1 Government Green Fleet in North America ranking and award. These achievements were a culmination of years of teamwork, working with vendors, being in a position to take advantage of grant funding opportunities, gaining financial and executive leadership support, strategic planning, preparation, and taking risks that were not seen by onlookers.

Best advice you were ever given: “It is better to be a racer for a moment than a spectator for a lifetime.” The advice was to illustrate that it is better to try something and fail than regret that you never tried at all later in your life.

Something most people may not know about you: I was invited by the White House in 2015 to participate in an event centered around electric vehicle charging infrastructure and how to accelerate the adoption of EVs.

Matthew Case CEM

Fleet Division Manager

Manatee County, Florida

Years in fleet: 28 years combined government fleet and luxury automotive dealerships working in service and retail finance

Started in the industry as a: Technician.

Most enjoyable aspect of your job: Really, being around the equipment is my favorite, we have so many different classes of equipment that are essential to county operations, and the constant grind is exhilaration!

How your job, your fleet, and the industry have changed since you first started: Just how much you have to be dialed in so that when something forces you to do a 180 you’re ready for a new normal. From providing community support during the global pandemic, then flowing into an automotive manufacturers’ strike, and going into supply chain issues that we’re finally now starting to see resolved, it has just been a ride. It shows how we have to be fluid and change on a dime to comply with things. As a fleet manager, you have to stay on top of everything. To survive, it’s essential to not only surround yourself with winners but to stay continually educated and updated on all that is new. 

Proudest accomplishment: I have so many accomplishments that we’re proud of, especially in my six years as the fleet manager, but the ability to put together my own cabinet and leadership team within the organization and receive support from our administration and board of county commissioners, knowing that we provide an absolutely essential service to the taxpayers, has been a very proud moment in my career. 

Best advice you were ever given: When I was a Fleet Manager of the Year finalist in 2022 my grandfather gave me this advice — “If you want bad advice, ask somebody their opinion; always seek an educated answer.”

Something most people may not know about you: I’m an avid sailor, polo player, and boxer. 

We thank the judges for this year’s award: Sara Burnam, MSL, CAFM, fleet management director for Palm Beach County, Florida | David Renschler, CPFP, fleet division manager, City of Fairfield, California | Robert L. Stine Jr., CPFP, CAFM, MA/MS Director, Fleet Management Department, Hillsborough County, Florida | Dan Berlenbach, CPFP, fleet services manager for the city of Long Beach, California | Jeff Booton, Sr. Director of Maintenance Airport Maintenance Division Airport Maintenance Center, Denver, Colorado