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Schneider
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Don Schneider, who built Schneider National into the largest privately held truckload carrier in the United States, died Friday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 76.
Schneider led the trucking company for more than 25 years, taking advantage of the motor carrier industry’s deregulation of the early 1980s to expand the company and move it into the logistics and intermodal arenas as well. Under his watch, Schneider was one of the most technologically advanced trucking companies. The carrier was the first in the industry to adopt satellite-based communications and tracking for its trucks.
Schneider National, based in Green Bay, Wis., was formed in 1935 by Don’s father, Al, who sold his car to buy a single truck. Don began working for the family business in the early 1950s while in high school, first as a mechanic and then as a driver. He continued to work while attending St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. He obtained an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He joined the company as a manager in 1961 and succeeded his father as president in 1976. Schneider National’s revenue then was $82 million.
Now a $3.7 billion enterprise, Schneider operates more than 12,300 tractors, 10,100 of which are company-owned. It has 33,000 trailers and more than 18,100 employees worldwide. It operates more than 10 million square feet of warehouse space. Schneider’s orange trucks are part of the national highway landscape, familiar to motorists because of their ubiquity.
Among the core values he instilled at the company were hard work, innovation and safety.
In a special tribute section on the Schneider Website, Todd Jadin, now vice president of the Schneider Logistics’ Integrated Delivery Service, wrote with fondness that Don early on “told me one of the things I would enjoy about my work experience was that we only worked ‘half days at Schneider — any 12 hours you want.”
Truck driver Matt O’Brien posted: “Thank you Uncle Donnie. You gave me the best place a person could ever work! All of us have lost a great friend. Miss ya.”
Don Schneider’s innovations included the deployment of two-way Qualcomm satellite communication systems and the formation of Schneider Logistics in 1993 as a subsidiary of Schneider National to handle other aspects of customer’s freight transportation needs. He also formed Schneider Communications, a regional telecommunications company, in 1982.
Schneider retired from day-to-day operations in 2002, selecting then Chief Operating Office Chris Lofgren to succeed him as president and chief executive officer. He continued to serve as chairman of the board until reaching the company’s mandatory retirement age in 2007.
“Don Schneider was one of the finest individuals I have ever known,” Lofgren said in an obituary posted on the company’s Website. “He entrusted our management team to continue his vision of providing exceptional transportation and logistics services at a fair price while enhancing the standard of living worldwide.”
Schneider was known for his down-to-earth style. He typically wore blue jeans, a denim shirt and cowboy boots to work and kept close to his drivers to understand their concerns.
“The transportation and logistics industry has lost one of its most passionate and influential voices,” American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said. “Don Schneider was a visionary, bringing business acumen and technology to blaze a trail and set the standard in the modern day development of our industry. . . . Trucking owes a debt of gratitude to Don for helping to shape this industry and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.”
Schneider received many honors for his work. In 1993, the National Industrial Transportation League named him “Logistics Executive of the Year.” He received the Distinguished Service Award in 2002 from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. And in 2009, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame.
In his spare time he served as chairman of the business advisory committee at Northwestern University’s Transportation Center, was a member of the board for the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, was a director on the Federal Reserve Board in Chicago, and served on the board of Fort Howard Paper Co. and Franklin Electric.
He was also a member of the board and executive committee of the Green Bay Packers football team and sat on the board of trustees for St. Norbert College.
Schneider was also an active philanthropist in the Green Bay area, having chaired the capital campaign for Notre Dame Academy, the annual campaign for United Way of Brown County and provided the lead donation for the St. Norbert College outdoor athletic complex – named after him – in 2008. The Schneider National Foundation has donated millions of dollars and thousands of hours of volunteer time to charities in need since its founding.
Schneider is survived by his wife of 53 years, Pat, five children, and 13 grandchildren.
A wake and funeral services will be held Jan. 17-18 for family and personal friends. Current and former Schneider employees, industry colleagues and community leaders are encouraged to attend a separate Celebration of Life event to be held Feb. 15 at the Byron L. Walter Theater (Hall of Fine Arts) on the campus of St. Norbert College from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A reception will follow. Additional information will be posted on the Schneider.com Website.
The company is asking people who want to share memories or condolences to visit the “Share a Memory” page of the site. — Eric Kulisch