Uremovich departs Pacer

Uremovich departs Pacer    Pacer International abruptly announced Tuesday that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Uremovich will step down by the end of the day and be replaced by Daniel Avramovich, the current chief operating officer.
   Avramovich has served as COO since June.
   During the past year Pacer has been involved in a major reorganization and rebranding effort to transform itself into a retail company that controls container assets and provides direct end-to-end transportation service rather than a wholesale reseller of intermodal service.
   Avramovich joined the intermodal company in June 2008 as retail intermodal services president to implement the new business model.
   The company reported sharply lower third quarter earnings of $600,000 compared to $29.3 million a year ago, while revenue was down $139 million to $418 million. In the second quarter, the Concord, Calif., intermodal and logistics provider posted a $7.3 million loss versus a $13.4 million profit in the year-earlier period. In 2008, net income decreased from $54.3 million in 2007 to a loss of $16.6 million and the company had to take an $80 million impairment charge for its logistics segment.
   'Dan Avramovich has not only proven to be an effective leader for Pacer, he has a clear vision and plan for Pacer’s future that has been embraced by our board of directors and leadership team,” Uremovich said in a statement. “He brings a breadth of experience as an executive of logistics, rail and intermodal transportation companies, as well as skills in building value-added relationships with customers and vendors, and cohesiveness within our organization. He is a solid choice to lead our senior management team and our company into the future.”
   Avramovich was executive vice president sales and market for Kansas City Southern railroad prior to joining Pacer. Before that he served as DHL Exel Supply Chain's president of network services.
   A company representative characterized the leadership change as a natural progression that began when Avramovich joined the company. Uremovich achieved a key goal before retiring when Pacer in early November concluded a major deal with the Union Pacific to lock in capacity on the railroad's network and establish a new rate structure.
   The deal better aligned the strategies of Pacer and UP so they don't compete against each other for the same customers, Avramovich told AmericanShipper.com in an interview during a major intermodal freight conference in Anaheim, Calif. last month. ' Eric Kulisch