Several companies across the fleet industry have recently announced leadership changes. Government Fleet is here to keep you in the loop with details on the changes.

Felling Trailers Northeastern Regional Sales Manager Bids Farewell

Mike Flynn, northeastern regional sales manager for Felling Trailers, is stepping down from his role as a trailer sales rep after 22 years with the company. Flynn decided to retire from the "iron business" in January 2023.

His career begn after a relationship that started in late 1999 when Flynn met with Merle Felling, founder and COB of Felling Trailers, At the time, Felling was looking to expand its dealer distribution network beyond the Upper Midwest into the Northeast. In 2000, Flynn signed on with Felling Trailers as an independent trailer sales rep for the Northeast region covering Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware.

No stranger to the iron business, when Flynn was 13, his father started his own short-line distribution company after 13 years of representing John Deere overseas.

"I got involved with his business from the ground up working weekends, and as I got older, I became more involved with every aspect of the business itself," Flynn said. They sold a wide variety of agricultural equipment, light industrial equipment — including equipment trailers — domestic and foreign importing equipment like as Belarus tractors, and tillage equipment from Germany and Italy. In 1990, Flynn left the family business to be an independent rep on his own.

"I repped for Harley Rock Rakes along with Dynaweld trailers for nine years until the company was sold after the owner passed in a tragic plane crash. One of my dealers had heard of Felling Trailers and suggested I check them out. This came at a perfect time to replace Dynaweld with a like quality product, but with a wider variety of models on the smaller capacity end,” Flynn said. He also represented Liddell Trailers for a period of nine years, selling the company's heavy haul products that were higher capacity than what Felling was manufacturing at the time. He represented Liddell until 1999, when the owner passed, and the company was sold.

While representing Felling, Flynn also took on Rogers from 2007 to 2021 to supplement the heavy haul trailers that Liddell had been making. Throughout his time with Felling Trailers, Flynn grew the company’s dealer base and brand awareness from being "the new kid on the block," as he would put it, to a well-recognized leader in the trailer manufacturing space with over 50 dealers throughout the northeast region.

"Mike Flynn...was the driving force in establishing the Felling brand in the Northeastern US. We wish him the best in his retirement," Felling Trailers VP of Sales and Marketing Pat Jennissen said.

Flynn made his final appearance with the Felling Sales team at the 2023 CONEXPO-CON/AGG show in Las Vegas in March 2023.

Since retiring, Flynn and his wife have relocated from their home in Fayetteville, New York, to their vacation home in Naples, Florida, to spend more time golfing.

In the interim, trailer and dealer inquiries for the Northeastern region can be made through Felling's Internal Sales team.

Intellishift Announces New Chief Revenue Officer

Intellishift, provider of all-in-one fleet intelligence platform for safety and operations teams, announced that it appointed Jeff Cohen as its Chief Revenue Officer. The company announced the change during the 2023 NAFA Institute & Expo.

Cohen, an industry veteran and revenue leader, led, grew, and sold three different telematics companies prior to joining Intellishift:

• Trackunit - acquired by Hg, a PE firm

• Telogis - acquired by Verizon

• Intergis - acquired by Telogis

Cohen spent five years at Trackunit, an off-highway telematics provider for the construction industry, serving as its president, and then as its chief commercial officer. Before his time with Trackunit, Cohen was charged with growing the OEM and off-road telematics business for Telogis. He led Telogis to become one of the leading and fastest-growing telematics providers in the space prior to its acquisition by Verizon. Before Telogis, Cohen was the CEO of Intergis, a telematics and routing providerk, focused on medium-sized businesses in the field service industry. Cohen led the growth of Intergis before it was successfully purchased by Telogis.

"Jeff is an extraordinarily customer-focused leader who brings out the best in his teams and works to align the entire organization in support of the customer experience. I am thrilled to add him to the executive leadership team to help take our exciting business to the next level," IntelliShift founder and CEO John Cunningham, Jr. said.

Cohen joins IntelliShift as it continues to establish itself in the industry as the fleet intelligence platform of choice for last mile delivery, field service, utility, and construction industries.

IntelliShift's platform enables mixed fleets to manage telematics, AI dash cameras, digital inspections, vehicle and equipment maintenance, fuel management, and compliance technology in a single space.

"The industry has come a long way since my time at Telogis," Cohen said. "The ability to bring different value components together into a single platform, such as pure-play telematics, compliance, maintenance, and AI video has never been more valuable to fleet, operations, and safety leaders. The customer now has the benefit of growing into their fleet management platform at their pace, with a lower cost of ownership than ever before and the highest ability to gain internal adoption."

Pierce Manufacturing Appoints New President

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, announced that Bob Schulz has been appointed to serve as President of Pierce Manufacturing within the new Vocational segment effective April 10, 2023. As part of the overall Vocational strategy, Schulz will have responsibility for Pierce, Airport Products (ARFF), and Frontline Communications brands.

“I am honored for the opportunity to serve in this new role and to lead an outstanding team as we drive our strategic priorities,” said Schulz.

Jim Johnson, who has led Pierce Manufacturing since 2010, will remain the Executive Vice President of Oshkosh Corporation and President of the Vocational segment. He is responsible for the overall operations of Pierce Manufacturing, MAXIMETAL, Oshkosh Airport Products, Frontline Communications, Kewaunee Fabrications, McNeilus refuse vehicles, Oshkosh S-Series front discharge mixers, and IMT specialty vehicles. 

“Bob is a proven leader with a deep understanding of our Pierce, Airport Products and Frontline Communications businesses and our Dealer Network,” Johnson said. “We are excited and confident to have Bob’s strong leadership, customer relationships and drive for results steering these exceptional brands.”  

Schulz graduated from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign with a Master of Business Administration from Marquette University. He joined Pierce Manufacturing in 2004. During his 18 years with Oshkosh Corporation, Schulz has held roles in finance and most recently aerial general management.