Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Jan. 19, 2024:
J.B. Hunt Transport Services (CCJ Top 250, No. 3) announced Wednesday that Patrick Ottensmeyer has been elected the newest member of its board of directors, effective Jan. 12, expanding the board to 10 total board seats.
Ottensmeyer brings more than 17 years of rail industry experience to the company’s board. He served as president and CEO of Kansas City Southern (KCS), a Class I railroad, from 2015 to 2023, until the completion of the merger creating Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) in 2023. From 2008 to 2015, he was executive vice president of sales and marketing at KCS and served as executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer at the railroad from 2006 to 2008.
Ottensmeyer also served as the U.S. Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Mexico Economic Council (USMXECO) from 2019 to 2023. In this role, he was instrumental in representing business interests during the formation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) from 2017-2020.
He currently serves on the board of directors for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; for the Greenbrier Companies, an international supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets; and for Watco Companies, a single-source transportation and supply chain services company with locations throughout North America and Australia. Ottensmeyer is also co-chair of the Brookings Institute USMCA Initiative and chair of the Truman Library Institute.
Ottensmeyer is the third new board member since 2021 for J.B. Hunt and will serve on the board’s Compensation Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. Last year, Persio Lisboa joined the board following his retirement in 2021 as president and CEO of Navistar, Inc. His 35-year career included extensive senior executive experience with Navistar.
Thad Hill was also elected to the board in 2021. Hill is CEO of Calpine Corporation (Calpine), one of the nation’s largest independent competitive power companies operating power plants and retail businesses in 22 states and Ontario, Canada.
