Dive Brief:
- Former Yellow Corp. CEO Darren Hawkins has joined the North American Chassis Pool Cooperative as president and will become its CEO next year, the organization announced Friday.
- Hawkins succeeds outgoing CEO Dave Manning, who will ascend to chair of the NACPC board when the former leader of the bankrupt LTL giant takes the reins on Jan. 1.
- “I’ve known Darren for many years and am excited to have him guiding NACPC into the future,” Manning said in the announcement. “He is the perfect person to lead NACPC to achieve the ambitious growth goals established by our Board.”
Dive Insight:
The announcement of Hawkins’ next C-suite job arrived exactly 13 months after Yellow Corp., then the country’s largest unionized LTL carrier, filed for bankruptcy. The company employed 30,000 workers.
Hawkins had spent the year before the bankruptcy deadlocked in a bitter fight with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters over operational changes as part of the carrier’s network overhaul. That fight escalated into a lawsuit against the union by the company.
The company is facing a lawsuit of its own over alleged failures to file advance notices of layoffs as required by law.
Hawkins’ hire reflects his 35 years of experience in trucking and deep relationships in the industry. Prior to Yellow, Hawkins’ resume includes leadership roles at Con-way Freight and YRC Freight, according to his LinkedIn.
In his next job, the longtime carrier executive will lead a group aiming to establish an efficient, competitively-priced chassis supply on a national basis. NACPC was established in 2012 to support domestic and international intermodal networks with adequate supply levels.
Hawkins enters the role at a critical time for chassis providers, as the Federal Maritime Commission has dedicated $500,000 to a review of existing pools under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to determine the best model.
“I’m honored to work with the NACPC team to continue providing a modern fleet of chassis to the U.S. intermodal container network with first class service, expansion in our domestic services, and continued heavy investment in our international services to benefit U.S. motor carriers with chassis choice and competitive pricing,” Hawkins said in the announcement.
