By Michele Fuetsch, Staff Reporter This story appears in the Aug. 13 print edition of Transport Topics.
The National Tank Truck Carriers announced that vice president Daniel Furth has become president, succeeding John Conley, who will retire at the end of 2013.
During the transition, Conley will be the NTTC’s past president and liaison to the executive committee.
“The beauty is we get to have John there, too,” Furth said. “He’s got a tremendous reputation and a tremendous set of relationships in town that are really valuable to us, and so we get the best of both worlds.”
In an Aug. 3 announcement, NTTC Chairman John “Hans” Schaupp of LCL Bulk Transport said the group was pleased to have Furth as the new leader, “given his prior experience in the industry and his many contributions . . . since he joined the team as our vice president back in 2008.”
Furth, 48, said he’s been in the tank-truck business since taking a job in the mailroom at the original Quality Carriers in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., at the age of 15.
In 1994, he went to work for Montgomery Tank Lines in Plant City, Fla., managing investor relations and public affairs.
Montgomery later became part of Quality Distribution and Quality Carriers, which are under the same ownership
According to the NTTC announcement, Furth was chief of staff to Quality’s chairman and, “played an instrumental role” in the company’s initial public offering in 1994, its subsequent buyout by Apollo Management in 1998, and the acquisition of Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, also in 1998.
Furth said he has no dramatic changes in mind right now for the NTTC.
“I think the plan right off the bat is to just maintain our level of success,” Furth said. “We’re a pretty strong organization with a very active membership base, and we’re doing well in most of our programming.”
Since its founding in 1945, the NTTC has had only three presidents before Furth.
“I’ve certainly been well aware of who they were, and I’m a former member of the association,” Furth said. “We know it’s a big job. It’s very exciting and it’s an honor for sure.”
Conley said in the announcement that he would “continue to work hard for our members and to promote trucking safety until I hand in my logbook at the end of 2013.”
Conley went to work for NTTC in 1989 as vice president and became president in 2006.
