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Old Dominion Freight Line adds Daimler’s 2021 Freightliner Ride of Pride Tractor, Honoring U.S. Military, to its Fleet

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Old Dominion Freight Line adds Daimler’s 2021 Freightliner Ride of Pride Tractor, Honoring U.S. Military, to its Fleet

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (Nasdaq: ODFL) took delivery of a specially-wrapped 2022 Freightliner Cascadia tractor as part of manufacturer Daimler Trucks’ 2021 Ride of Pride program. The tractor’s patriotic design honors America’s veterans, some of whom will have the chance to drive the tractor as it crosses the country over the next several years.

The Ride of Pride program launched several months after the 9/11 tragedy, as designers at Daimler’s Cleveland, N.C. plant considered ways to honor past, present and future military veterans, with an emphasis on POW/MIA service members. The first tractor, “Eagle One,” took to the road in 2002, and the unveiling of each year’s Ride of Pride trucks has been a Memorial Day tradition ever since. Daimler has now produced more than 30 Ride of Pride tractors for carriers across the U.S. Old Dominion took delivery of its first Ride of Pride Truck in a presentation at its corporate office in Thomasville.

“Each of these tractors is built with P.R.I.D.E. – passion, respect, integrity, discipline and excellence. Those are the tenets our veterans follow when they’re serving our country, and we want the tractor to represent each one of them,” said Darrell Plonk, logistics manager at Daimler’s Cleveland, N.C. Freightliner plant.

Old Dominion’s Ride of Pride tractor begins its journey this month at the carrier’s Greensboro, N.C. service center, where it will haul freight for the next six months. After that, it will rotate to a different Old Dominion service center biannually and will be driven by veterans at each facility.

“Veterans are a core part of the OD Family, and we’re proud we have the chance to honor our service members in such a unique way,” said Jim Raynor, vice president of maintenance and equipment at Old Dominion Freight Line. “Whether the tractor is at one of our service centers, on the road to its destination, or at a customer’s dock, we hope it will serve as a reminder to those who see it of the debt we owe those who have served our country.”

To learn more about Daimler’s Ride of Pride tractors, visit the program’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RideofPride. To learn more about Old Dominion Freight Line, visit www.odfl.com.

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About Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. is one of the largest North American less-than-truckload (“LTL”) motor carriers and provides regional, inter-regional and national LTL services through a single integrated, union-free organization. Our service offerings, which include expedited transportation, are provided through an expansive network of service centers located throughout the continental United States. The Company also maintains strategic alliances with other carriers to provide LTL services throughout North America. In addition to its core LTL services, the Company offers a range of value-added services including container drayage, truckload brokerage and supply chain consulting.

EPA

Old Dominion Confirmed for the 2020 EPA SmartWay Excellence Award

Old Dominion takes leading sustainability efforts in the trucking industry to a new level. Thanks to its role within the SmartWay Transport Partnership, the LTL carrier has contributed to the savings of 279.7 million oil barrels, $37.5 billion in fuel costs, and 134 million tons of air pollutants, according to information released. These successes in addition to consistent efforts in sustainable operations have earned Old Dominion the EPA SmartWay Excellence Award award for the sixth year in a row.

“Sustainability is a critical component of Old Dominion’s operational strategy. We’re committed to being a good corporate citizen and our partnership with the SmartWay Transportation program helps us move towards being a more sustainable carrier,” said Greg Gantt, president and CEO, Old Dominion Freight Line.

The award and 11-year partnership with SmartWay support Old Dominion’s position as a leader in sustainable operations within the freight supply chain arena. Old Dominion represents one of roughly 3,670 companies in partnership with SmartWay. SmartWay partners range from freight shippers to manufacturers, cargo owners, retailers, and more.

Sam Faucette, Old Dominion’s vice president of safety and compliance, received the award on behalf of the company on November 5th during the EPA SmartWay Excellence virtual conference.

“We will continue to look for ways to improve our sustainability practices and ultimately reduce our carbon footprint. We are humbled by this recognition and thrilled to receive this award for the sixth consecutive year,” Gantt concluded.

Old Dominion

Old Dominion Driver Awarded for Heroic and Lifesaving Actions

In true Old Dominion fashion, delivery and pickup driver Harold Hyde took “putting others first” to a new level when he risked his own life to save a 4-year-old boy wandering on the road in August of 2019. Using his own truck as a barricade to block off traffic on both sides, Hyde decided to act quickly when he noticed cars swerving to avoid hitting the nonverbal and autistic boy who unlocked his home and wandered onto the road.

This brave act represents one of two from Hyde, as he saved a pregnant woman from an overturned SUV in September before first responders could arrive, not long after saving the 4-year-old boy from a potentially disastrous situation. Both instances occurred while Hyde was en route for customer deliveries. These actions and Hyde’s unwavering willingness to help others positioned him as this year’s recipient of the distinguished John Yowell OD Family Spirit Award.

“I am humbled to be recognized with the John Yowell award,” said Harold Hyde. “It’s inspiring to be associated with the legacy of Mr. Yowell and past recipients of the award. My job allows me to interact with the great people of Nashville and beyond, and I will continue to strive for excellence in my work while serving my community. I’m just thankful for the chance to do something positive for someone else.”

The OD Spirit Family Award encompasses the family-focused culture Old Dominion puts at the forefront of its LTL business operations. Named after John Yowell – former executive vice president who passed away in 2011, the award is dedicated to showcasing exemplary dedication to helping others, and that’s exactly what Mr. Hyde has done.

“Harold’s continued commitment to going above and beyond for his community and Old Dominion customers naturally sets him apart,” said Greg Gantt, president and CEO of Old Dominion Freight Line. “His uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and humble heroism make him the true picture of a John Yowell OD Family Spirit Award winner.”

Mr. Hyde has been with Old Dominion since 2007 and received a $1,000 donation from ODFL towards the charity of his choice. Hyde selected True Joy Community Progam to support healthy meals and snacks for children in low-income areas. This organization works to combat hunger and obesity while promoting health and nutrition.

Old Dominion

Old Dominion Meets Growing Demand with Facility Expansions

As capacity and customer demands continue to grow, leading LTL carrier Old Dominion Freight Line (OD) prepares to meet these industry needs by expanding its facilities across the country from Texas and Ohio to Idaho and Arkansas while adding more facilities to growing markets. The announces expansions include innovative technology allowing for increased shipping paces and seamless shipment transfers while reducing shipping time and adding more room for capacity and flexibility options.

“As our customers adjust to growing e-commerce demands, they rely on us to not only accommodate the additional shipments but to also help them keep their promises to their customers with fast, on-time delivery with no product damage,” said Terry Hutchins, Vice President of Real Estate. “We are excited about these new and renovated service center openings. OD will continue to invest in new capacity to welcome the growing demand and exceed our customers’ expectations.”

Among the regions now boasting renovated and improved facilities in El Paso and Lubbock, TX, Columbus, OH, and Chicago. The facility expansions and additions ultimately strengthen the LTL carrier’s market presence while maintaining customer satisfaction through upgrades and more bodies for support.

In addition to facility expansions, remodeling, and employee additions, OD will celebrate the opening of new facilities recently opened in Oregon, Idaho, Arkansas, and Georgia throughout the month of October.

Our long term strategic plan includes continual investment in our network to improve efficiencies and increase capacity so when our customers grow, we can serve them. The end goal of helping our customers keep their promises is solidified by our continued investment in new technology and service center expansion,” said Hutchins.

Old Dominion Freight Line Recognized for Disaster Responder Program Support

Old Dominion Freight Line amped up its efforts to support the vision of the American Red Cross with a pledge of $250,000 through the Disaster Responder Program in addition to launching the redcross.org/odfl platform to streamline additional donations from its employees and customers. These donations help the nonprofit organization further efforts to respond to more than 62,000 annual natural disasters each year.

“Every day in the face of disasters, the generosity of Disaster Responder members like Old Dominion Freight Line ensures the Red Cross can provide comfort and care to people in their darkest hours,” said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. “We are extremely grateful for these contributions before disasters strike because it enables us to respond to disasters immediately and compassionately, when help and hope are needed most.”

The American Red Cross reports house fires are the most common type of disaster they respond to annually, topping hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. The funds donated to the organization enable opportunities to educate communities – including Old Dominion’s employees, on disaster preparation and recovery.

“From hurricanes and flooding to wildfires, we’ve seen the impact that the American Red Cross has on our communities. We’re dedicated to helping Red Cross keep their promises by assisting with disaster preparation and response. This partnership will help many communities around the country, communities where our OD Family lives and works every day,” said Chip Overbey, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning at Old Dominion Freight Line. “This announcement is a way to formalize the work we’ve done and the work we will continue to do with the American Red Cross. Our goal is to help these communities not only monetarily, but also through our OD Family support.”

Source: Old Dominion Freight Line

Women in Logistics: Kim Maready, VP of Accounting and Finance, Old Dominion Freight Line

When it comes to exemplary leadership, Old Dominion – a leading provider in LTL and transportation logistics, takes implementing its core values of integrity and greatness to the next level. Through its strong relationships both externally with its customers and internally with each individual working for the company, these values are what keep its employees working towards the Old Dominion vision. With her passion for mentoring and leadership, Kim Maready, Vice President of Accounting and Finance for the company, is a prime example of the way Old Dominion takes her position in leadership one step further by shaping employees through a fresh, unique approach. It was this very approach combined with the culture at Old Dominion that ultimately peaked her interest to join the team in 2014.

“I think the Old Dominion culture places a tremendous amount of value on its people. It is a family-oriented culture and once you join the family, you really feel that. I felt that as an outside service provider. They not only cared about their own success, but they cared about my success as a provider,” she said. “A lot of other large public companies haven’t found that magic really. It’s all about the business and I think that comes through the profitability, or lack thereof, of some companies because ODFL recognizes that it’s profitable because of its people and the amount that they give to our customers every single day.”

Kim has served Old Dominion for five years, bringing with her over 20 years of experience in the middle market Fortune 1,000 space. Prior to her onboarding with Old Dominion, she worked as a partner. It was through her time serving the company that convinced her the Old Dominion culture was different.

“They were a client of mine for six years, so I knew the company well, the leadership team well, their environment, and core values. I spent time serving a lot of different companies across a lot of different industries from banking to manufacturing, to retail, consumer products, technology, and other transportation companies,” she said. “What interested me in Old Dominion was the culture – the leadership team, the value they place on their people, and the integrity that’s here at the company.”

In her role as VP of Accounting and Finance, she does a lot more than oversee the financials. Mrs. Maready takes her passion for mentorship and aims to create a strong team that feels valued and respected by challenging them to take their ideas and concerns to the leadership team. Old Dominion prides itself in its “Open-Door” Policy that gives every person at the company a voice. This approach bolsters the company’s vision to create the next generation of employees that carry on the core values of integrity, honesty, and transparency while managing risks. This policy serves as another differentiator among competitors.

“If you’re trying to innovate and get processes that aren’t working anymore to change, and you’re having roadblocks with those changes or don’t know where to take your ideas, you can come in to any of these 20 or so people and have a discussion and get action around that discussion while having someone that can champion it with their authority or help remove those roadblocks. I think that really mitigates a lot of our risk and it really is unique to this organization. I’ve seen a lot of companies and I haven’t heard of other companies embracing that quite like we do,” she adds.

Beyond the company’s robust customer base and successful operations, Old Dominion boasts a large organization of employees that value excellence day in and out. It’s through these valued employees that Old Dominion serves its customers while creating competitive advantage. The value Old Dominion places in its employees follows the wise saying from Richard Branson: “Whatever industry a company is in, its employees are its biggest competitive advantage.”

“In the short term it’s my responsibility and my team’s responsibility to really grow the next generation of leaders and to help them understand our culture, our core values of integrity, and ensure that we have the right leaders in place two decades down the road from now to maintain the culture and the unique environment that we have. It’s beyond just looking at the debits and the credits that some expect us to be talking about and thinking about every day,” she added.

Kimberly S. Maready currently serves as Principal Accounting Officer for Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., a position she has held since May of 2017. Mrs. Maready joined ODFL in February of 2014 as the Vice President – Accounting and Finance and is responsible for directing ODFL’s accounting operations, financial reporting, payroll, tax and financial planning. Prior to joining ODFL, Mrs. Maready spent 21 years with Ernst & Young LLP, including 9 years as partner in the Assurance and Advisory Services practice. Her finance and accounting experience spans across multiple sectors including banking, retail, technology and transportation. Mrs. Maready holds an accounting degree from North Carolina State University and is a licensed CPA in the state of North Carolina. She has served as an active board member of Goodwill of Central North Carolina and the Winston-Salem Children’s Museum and the advisory boards of N.C. State’s Poole College of Management and Appalachian State University’s Walker School of Business.

Old Dominion Celebrates Growing Capacity

Old Dominion announced its success during the first half of 2019 following the opening of six service centers across the nation. Reduced shipping times, increased daily volumes and enhanced delivery flexibility are key benefits the service centers offer for customers.

Locations for the new center upgrades include:  Mobile, Ala., Pompano Beach, Fla., Houston, Texas, Otay Mesa (San Diego), Calif., Texarkana, Ark., and Anaheim, Calif.

“Our 2018 results confirm that strategically opening new and renovating existing service centers to accommodate customer demand is helping to grow our business,” said Terry Hutchins, Vice President of Real Estate. “We will continue that strategy of searching for new sites to increase capacity and grow our network to continue to deliver premium service that exceeds customers’ expectations.”

The implementation of new service centers are carefully considered in terms of location, network capacity opportunities, and access to the highest quality workers. Each center is equipped with the highest quality technology in anticipation of increased customer demand.

“We search for locations in growing markets where we have access to quality workers to expand our network capacity. Expanding our network allows us to immediately accommodate customer needs, and is critical to maintaining our award-winning low claims ratio and guaranteed on-time delivery,” said Hutchins.

The company announced scheduled open houses for each of the new locations to celebrate their success:

Mobile – March 13

Pompano Beach – March 20

Houston – April 11

Otay Mesa – April 24

Texarkana – April 25

Anaheim – April 25

 

Source: Old Dominion Freight Line

American Trucking Association Recognizes Old Dominion Linehaul Driver

The American Trucking Association selected Old Dominion Freight Linehaul driver, Bill Goins to join “America’s Road Team” consisting of a carefully selected group of drivers demonstrating advanced driving skills paired with an exemplary safety record. Out of the 34 finalists, Goins boasts an impressive 2.8 million accident-free miles on the road from the past 31 years. Goins started driving for Old Dominion in 2014.

“Bill consistently impresses us with his dedication to safe driving, helping others and representing Old Dominion’s values,” said Sam Faucette, vice president of safety and compliance at Old Dominion Freight Line. “We are proud to have him represent OD as a member of the 2019-2020 America’s Road Team and know he will have a positive impact on the future of this industry.”

Additionally, Goins was awarded with the Grand Champion of the Indiana Motor Truck Association Truck Driving Championship in the 5-axel class in 2015 as well as the John Yowell “OD Family Spirit award” in 2016 from Old Dominion.

“These drivers represent the diverse experiences of the 3.5 million professional drivers across the country and will be able to bring their unique stories to new, critical audiences as part of America’s Road Team,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “ATA is very excited to begin working with this group of professional, respected drivers and see them continue spreading the positive image of the trucking industry. We are extremely proud of them, as are their companies and families.”

Source: Old Dominion Freight Line

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Old Dominion Freight Line Gears Up for 2019 Baseball Season

Friday marked day one for Old Dominion Freight Line‘s journey to support and assist this year’s Spring Training send-offs by delivering team exercise equipment, baseball bats and balls, and sports drinks to the Spring Training locations.  The official Freight Carrier of Major League Baseball (MLB) will set out on a cross-country excursion starting with traditional send-off events this week.

Old Dominion partnered with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies to begin transporting the equipment to the Hilton Chicago in preparation for the 27th annual SoxFest this week before the trucks head for their final destinations.

“These MLB clubs understand the value of Old Dominion’s premium service, ensuring its transportation to Spring Training goes as planned,” said Dick Podiak, vice president of marketing and communication at Old Dominion Freight Line. “We’re excited to move clubs again this year and help kick off the 2019 baseball season.”

Those that come across the trucks are encouraged to share a picture with the companies (@Phillies and @ODFL_Inc) using the signature hashtag #RingTheBell.