Leo Suggs, president of UPS Freight, announced Monday, July 31, that he will retire at the end of this year and effective immediately will devote the next five months to a broad service quality initiative at the national trucking concern. UPS has named Gordon Mackenzie, most recently senior vice president and chief operating officer of UPS Freight, as president.
Mackenzie had held the position of chief operating officer since he joined Overnite Transportation in 1996; UPS acquired Overnite in August 2005 and subsequently rebranded the Richmond, Va.-based unit as UPS Freight. Before joining Overnite, Mackenzie served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Preston Trucking from 1993 to 1996. He also held various executive positions with Standard Trucking, Ryder/PIE Nationwide and Transcon Lines.
Suggs, who has devoted almost 50 years of his life to the trucking industry, was named chief executive officer of Overnite in 1996 and has been instrumental in Overnite’s transition to UPS Freight. Prior to joining Overnite, Suggs served as president and chief executive officer of Preston Trucking from 1993 to 1996 after having worked previously in various executive positions at Yellow Corp. and Ryder/PIE. Suggs began his career as a warehouseman while in college in North Carolina.
“Leo Suggs played a pivotal role in building Overnite into one of the four largest less-than-truckload carriers in the United States, and he stayed on board with us to ensure a smooth integration and continued growth,” says Mike Eskew, UPS’s chairman and CEO. “The addition of UPS Freight bolstered our service portfolio, and we expect Leo’s contributions during the balance of the year to help us further grow the business and serve our customers.”
Jack Holmes, a senior UPS manager who headed the UPS Freight transition team, will replace Mackenzie as senior vice president of operations at UPS Freight. Holmes, who has 27 years of experience at UPS, began his career with the company in 1979 in West Chester, Pa., as a part-time employee. He became a package car driver in 1982 and was promoted to management in Philadelphia in 1983. He served in various operations, engineering and safety assignments in Alabama, Georgia, Utah and in the Chicago area before accepting his current position in 2005.
