The nation’s largest truckload (TL) carrier, Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE: KNX), announced Wednesday that Adam Miller was appointed president of Swift Transportation effective last Friday. Miller succeeds Kevin Knight, who was the acting president at Swift following the 2017 merger between the two companies.
Knight will remain as Knight-Swift’s executive chairman of the board “with the primary focus of strategic growth.”
Miller will continue to serve as Knight-Swift’s chief financial officer.
Kevin Quast has been appointed chief administrative officer of Knight-Swift. Most recently he was COO at Swift, a role he assumed following the merger. Prior to the merger, he held a similar operations role at Knight Transportation.
Commenting on the changes, Knight-Swift CEO Dave Jackson said, “Adam Miller and Kevin Quast are talented and proven leaders that have earned the respect of our organization over their 18- and 24-year careers, respectively, at Knight and recent involvement with Swift. They have been influential, along with several other key leaders, in the unprecedented merger success at Swift with dramatic profitability improvements for America’s largest full truckload carrier.”
During the third quarter of 2020, the Phoenix-based company reported earnings results well ahead of expectations, increased full-year 2020 guidance and provided initial 2021 earnings guidance, a move normally reserved for the fourth-quarter release. The 2021 guidance outpaced consensus expectations by 14% at the time.
Most notable during the third quarter was the report that Swift’s adjusted operating ratio (OR) was 77.9% compared to Knight’s 80.1% adjusted OR. Many in the industry questioned if Swift would be able to reach operational parity with Knight following the merger. The two companies have operated within 30 basis points of each over the last 12 months.
