Con-way Truckload’s Schmidt retires

   Friday is the last day on the job for Con-way Truckload President Herb Schmidt, who is retiring after a long career in trucking.
   Schmidt was the president and chief executive officer of Contract Freighters Inc., a Joplin, Mo.-based truckload carrier, who managed the sale of the company to Con-way Inc. in 2007 and stayed on to lead Con-way Truckload. At the time, the Con-way holding company owned a large less-than-truckload operation and third-party logistics provider Menlo Worldwide, but it’s Con-way Truckload operation was relatively small by comparison. The acquisition made Con-way Truckload a major player in the truckload space and also gave it a much larger presence in the cross-border Mexican market.
   A Con-way Truckload spokeswoman confirmed Schmidt’s departure, which was first reported in the Joplin Globe.
   His retirement has been in the works for about a year. Saul Gonzalez, a former vice president of operations who was named interim chief executive for the transition period, takes over as president and CEO.
   Schmidt is retiring after more than 25 years in the industry. He is a former president of the Truckload Carriers Association’s Safety Council and served 11 years as chairman of the Professional Truck Driving Institute of America.
   Gonzalex joined CFI in 1991 as sales and operations manager and helped build up Con-way Truckload’s Mexican division to the point where it accounts for 40 percent of total revenues, according to his biography on Con-way’s Website. – Eric Kulisch