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Orlando, Fla. — Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV), a leading manufacturer of motor vehicles for the commercial, fire and emergency, and recreation markets, recently announced that Joe Bradshaw has been named vice president/general manager of its plant in Imlay City, Michigan, where the company’s Champion Bus and Federal Coach commercial bus brands are manufactured. Bradshaw will report to Kent Tyler, president of ASV’s Bus and Mobility Group.
“Joe understands ASV’s commitment to manufacturing excellence and is well aligned with our culture of continuous growth and improvement,” Tyler said. “He is no stranger to hard work and I am confident he will provide the strong leadership needed to take the operations at the Imlay City plant to the next level.”
Bradshaw added, “The entire team at the Imlay City plant has worked hard to earn a reputation for building safe, durable, and reliable cutaway shuttle buses under the Champion Bus and Federal Coach brands. I am excited about the opportunity to use my manufacturing knowledge and experience to continue this excellence.”
In his new role, Bradshaw will immediately be tasked with analyzing facilities, procurement, production, and quality assurance processes for the commercial and luxury bus products manufactured at this location to determine operational changes necessary for increasing efficiencies and growing output.
Since 2014, Bradshaw has been director of operations at ASV’s plant in Salina, Kansas, where the Eldorado National-Kansas, Eldorado Mobility, and Krystal vehicle brands are manufactured. During his tenure in Salina, Bradshaw has had an instrumental role in the plant-wide adoption of lean manufacturing principles and successful reconfiguration of production lines. Prior to this, he was plant operations manager at Detroit Reman-Central, a remanufacturer of on and off-highway vehicle power systems. Previously, Bradshaw held positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing and operations with Daimler Trucks North America.
ASV’s Bus & Mobility Group is made up of some of the industry’s leading brands—Champion Bus, Collins Bus, ElDorado National-California, ElDorado National-Kansas, ElDorado Mobility, Federal Coach, Goshen Coach, and Krystal—that manufacture light- and medium-duty commercial shuttle buses, heavy-duty transit buses, mobility conversion vehicles, and Type A school buses for public transit, paratransit, airport, parking, hotel/resort, group tour, public/private schools, assisted living, church, and university transportation markets.
Visit alliedsv.com for more information.
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Our first-ever show in Miami will be chock-full of inaugural events, including our Association Summit on Wednesday, October 14, at the Loews. During this debut event, you’ll get to hear from more than a dozen association leaders representing markets all across North America as they give presentations on how they’re fighting TNCs and working to maintain the integrity of the industry. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the American Southwest to eastern Canada, you’ll get to hear from operators hailing from an array of locales as they discuss their own region’s approach to industry-wide concerns.
Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association President Mike Fogarty of Tristar Worldwide, Limousine Association of New Jersey President Jeff Shanker of A-1 Limousine, and Florida Limousine Association President Rick Versace of A1A Airport & Limousine Service will be moderating the two-hour event, and the Summit will close with a Q&A session. Also presenting will be:
- Perry Barin 2nd Vice President, GCLA
- Shane Stickel President, CLA
- Mike Callahan President, NELA
- Chad Casey Director, GALA
- Robert Cunningham and Doug Schwartz Board Members, LILA
- Todd Davis and Matthew Johnston, Board Members, DFWLA
- Wes Hart President, HALCA
- Joe Ironi and Hussein Mahmoud Board Members, OLOA
- Tracy Raimer President, ILA
- Steve Rhoads President, PRLA
- Dave Shaw President, WFLA
- Cliff Wright President, GOLA
Click here to find out more about the Summit. All are welcome to attend this debut offering, which is sponsored by Chosen Payments.
Chosen Payments is also sponsoring a returning favorite, the Association Pavilion, which you can find right next to the lunch area at the Miami Beach Convention Center. While the Pavilion will be hosting our laser-focused Micro-Sessions on Monday and Tuesday afternoon, it will be open throughout the show floor’s exhibit hours.
And our Association Pavilion will be the site of another CD Show first: The National Limousine Association will be manning a booth this year.
“Many operators who are not members of the NLA attend the Chauffeur Driven Show, and we want to meet those people to tell them about the importance of being an NLA member,” says NLA President Gary Buffo of Pure Luxury Transportation. “We must unify as an industry to protect, preserve, and build our industry's footprint in chauffeured car and bus market segments in the years to come. We look forward to sharing the NLA’s goals with all CD Show attendees.”
This year’s Pavilion will also include the United Motorcoach Association, the Black Car Assistance Corporation, and a number of state and regional livery associations, all of whom will have members ready to chat about how they’re fighting the good fight for the benefit of the industry. Click here for a full list of Association Pavilion participants.
Visit chauffeurdrivenshow.com for more information.
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A graduate of Rutgers University—with a B.A. in English and minor in journalism—Smentek is a seasoned publishing professional with a diverse background that includes editorial work for academic publications, marketing agencies, and mainstream periodicals.
Prior to joining CD, Smentek was lead copy editor at an award-winning branding agency whose clients included several Fortune 500 companies. In addition to proofreading all agency work, he served as project manager for the annual publication of a massive pharmaceutical formulary, and was instrumental in successfully transitioning this 1,000-page handbook into an online-only resource. Before that, Smentek spent eight years as senior project editor at a medical publishing house where he was hands-on in all aspects of book production, from proofreading to page design and layout.
A self-described “nerd,” Smentek is a freelance proofreader on a series of award-winning magazines that cover the comic book industry for Raleigh, N.C.-based publisher TwoMorrows. And in addition to his editorial work, Smentek is a longtime musician whose songs have been featured on SiriusXM and Jet Blue in-flight radio.
Though new to the chauffeured ground transportation industry, Smentek is enthusiastic about joining the CD team. “This is an exciting industry, and I’m looking forward to learning the ins and outs of the business. And there isn’t a better place to learn the biz than Chauffeur Driven,” he said.
Smentek can be reached at rob@chauffeurdriven.com.
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