Jim O’Neal of O & S Transportation Elected TCA Chairman

Las Vegas, Nevada:

Jim O’Neal, President, O & S Transportation, Springfield, MO has been elected as 2007-2008 chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). The swearing-in ceremony took place on Sunday, March 11, at the association’s Annual Meeting, held March 11-14, 2007 at the Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Founded in 1981 as a transportation broker, O & S became employee-owned almost 20 years later in 2000 and operates today as a full service carrier. O & S offers dry and refrigerated truckload service, brokerage as well as logistics assistance. The company fleet serves the contiguous 48 states and Canada with approximately 375 tractors, 385 dry vans, and 370 refrigerated trailers.

Mr. O’Neal stated that his company has grown over the last 26 years by first establishing an Independent Contractor fleet (1983) and then developing a company owned fleet (1992). In 2003, O & S entered the Refrigerated market and acquired two smaller carriers. Stever Trucking (the “S” in O & S) merged back with O & S in 2004 and became the core of the O & S Refrigerated Division.

Jim firmly believes in the concept of open book management and apparently, it must be working at least fairly well for O & S, since from its inception in 2000 through 2006; it earned a 400% increase in stock value – – of which 30 % is in the employee trust.

As chairman, O’Neal’s single driving passion is to promote the safe operations of our companies and improve the image of our industry through the elimination of “at fault” bodily injury accidents. To accomplish this O’Neal says that we must build organizations designed to keep our finger on the pulse of every driver, and to put safety at the top of each of our mission statements.

It is up to our industry to take back highway safety and driver wellness from the so called safety advocates. These are our issues. There is nothing more important in our businesses than operating a safe fleet, and there is nothing more important than telling the public we are serious about getting it done.

The following individuals were also elected and will serve with O’Neal until the next Annual Convention:

• Officer At Large: Tom Kretsinger, Jr., American Central Transport, Inc.
• Officer At Large: Robert Low, Prime Inc.
• Officer At Large: Gary Salisbury, Fikes Truck Line Inc.
• Officer At Large: Bob Baylor, Baylor Trucking, Inc.
• Association Vice President to ATA: Clifton Parker, G & P Trucking, Inc.
• Secretary: John Kaburick, Earl L. Henderson Trucking Company
• Treasurer: Christopher Kozak, Willis Shaw Express
• Second Vice Chairman: Kevin Burch, Jet Express, Inc.
• First Vice Chairman: Ray Haight, MacKinnon Transport, Inc.
• Immediate Past Chairman: Barry Pottle, Pottle’s Transportation