LITTLE ROCK — Wesley Kemp, president and chief executive officer of the trucking company owned by Arkansas Best Corp., will retire at the end of the year as part of a corporate policy limiting the age of executives to under 65 years old.
Kemp will be replaced by sales and marketing executive Roy Slagle, Fort Smith based ABF Freight System Inc. said Wednesday in a news release.
The holding company also announced that James Keenan, a sales executive, will replace Slagle and that Erin Gattis, the corporation’s chief of staff, is now vice president of human resources.
Kemp, 65, is credited with helping the trucking business become profitable during one of the industry’s most severe recessions, Judy McReynolds, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Best Corp., said in a news release.
The trucking industry has seen a downturn in freight activity since late 2006. The less-than-truckload carrier has reported experiencing low freight volumes and struggling with high costs since the recession began during the last half of 2006, the company said.
Less-than-truckload carriers fill trucks from a variety of sources and then re-sort and redistribute the freight at a company terminal along a truck’s route.
The company gave Kemp additional responsibilities in January 2010, when chief executive officer was added to his title. Previously he had been president and chief operating officer, a position he had held since August 2008, the company said. Kemp has been with Arkansas Best Corp. since 1969.
Slagle, 57, has been with the corporation since 1976 and has worked in field operations positions in Ohio and Pennsylvania, before taking on roles such as treasurer and a regional sales executive.
He will oversee the national carrier’s work force of around 10,000 people, 76 percent of whom are covered under a collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company said a unionized work force has meant stability, low turnover, fewer accidents and less freight damage. However, it’s also meant legal action.
The company continues pursuing litigation in a case involving the labor union and struggling competitor YRC Worldwide of Overland Park, Kan.
In ABF’s 2010 initial suit, ABF contended that YRC Worldwide Inc. - ABF’s main unionized competitor - gained union concessions that give YRC an unfair competitive advantage. ABF is seeking damages by 2013, when its labor agreement expires, and to have amendments to the agreement declared null and void.
Other promotions announced Wednesday include the pending move of Keenan, 52, to senior vice president of sales and marketing. He willalso handle advertising and public relations responsibilities at the start of 2012, the carrier said in a news release. Keenan joined the carrier in 1981.
And the holding company’s chief of staff, Gattis, in her new role will help oversee human resources functions including recruiting for subsidiary businesses. She joined the company in 1999.
Gattis, 37, became McReynolds’ chief of staff in January 2010, a news release said.
Arkansas Best Corp. shares Wednesday fell $1.51, or 7.6 percent, on the Nasdaq to close at $18.34 per share. Its stock has traded as high as $29.08 and as low as $18.07 over the last 52 weeks.
Business, Pages 23 on 09/22/2011