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Mercury Associates, Inc. is a leading provider of
fleet management consulting services. With offices in thirteen states our
staff of professional consultants has assisted hundreds of public and
private sector vehicle and equipment operations evaluate and identify opportunities to improve
all facets of their fleet and travel management and operating practices. Our
consulting team combines years of hands-on asset management experience
with more than two decades of fleet consulting experience.
This combination of experience enables our clients to tackle a wide
array of challenges and opportunities, secure in the knowledge that our
findings will be technically sound and defensible to senior management,
elected officials, and other decision makers, but also practical and "implementable."
Our consultants have worked with fleets ranging in size from fewer than
25 to more than
600,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment has given us a full appreciation
of the daily demands and expectations that most fleet management
operations share in common, and of the operational, managerial, and
political environments that make each fleet manager's job unique. We do
not employ a "cookie cutter" approach to our consulting engagements.
Rather, we tailor each project to the particular circumstances, needs,
and objectives of our client. We are passionate about seeing our
recommendations implemented, so we work hard to understand the
communication channels and decision making processes through which a
fleet manager must navigate if he or she is to effect real business
process changes and tangible, measurable improvements in performance.
The key principals in our firm are:
Paul Lauria
President
Paul has been a transportation and fleet management consultant for more
than 21 years. He has provided consulting and training services to
hundreds of government, transit, utility, and corporate organizations.
Prior to co-founding Mercury, he was Vice President and National
Director of Fleet Management Consulting Services for David M. Griffith &
Associates (DMG) and Maximus, Inc. and a Senior Manager in the National
Transportation Consulting Group of Ernst & Young. A frequent speaker at
industry conferences and author of numerous articles and publications on
fleet management topics, Paul has worked extensively in the areas of
program evaluation, strategic planning and business process
reengineering, fleet replacement planning and financing, and cost
charge-back system development. The clients with whom he has worked
range from Walt Disney World Company to the US Army, and from the Alaska
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to the US Virgin
Islands Department of Property and Procurement. Paul holds a master’s
degree in Transportation Planning from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
Click here to contact
Paul Lauria by e-mail -
plauria@mercury-assoc.com
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Randy Owen, CAFM
Senior Vice President
Randy
has been a fleet manager and consultant for over 15 years. Prior to
co-founding
Mercury, he served as a senior manager in the Maximus Fleet Management
Consulting Group. Before beginning his consulting career, he was the
fleet manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and
for the City of Charlotte. An active member of such industry
associations as the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) and the
American Public Works Association (APWA), Randy is particularly noted for his
work in the areas of best practice assessments, competitiveness reviews,
replacement planning, managed competition, outsourcing, and privatization.
In fact, when he served as Charlotte’s fleet manager his department won
a managed competition. He has also
assisted such clients as San Diego County and the cities of Houston and
Dallas with managed competition and outsourcing projects. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science
from UCLA.
Click here to contact
Randy Owen, CAFM by e-mail -
rowen@mercury-assoc.com
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Brad Kelley
Vice President
Prior to co-founding Mercury, Brad was
a manager in the Maximus Fleet
Group, which he joined in 1999. Previously, he was assistant fleet
manager for Sarasota County, Florida. He specializes in the use of
information technology in fleet management organizations. As a
consultant, Brad has
implemented many of the best-known fleet systems in
the industry, and has assisted clients such as NASA, US Army, US
Marines, GSA, State of Delaware, State of Minnesota,
State of Oregon, City of Phoenix, City of Seattle Public Utilities, and the County of Seminole (FL) in integrating and evaluating
commercial-off-the-shelf fleet, ERP, and asset management software options, implementation and reengineering information
technology infrastructure, and integrating productivity-enhancement
tools - including wireless devices, web-based reports, fleet replacement
planning software, document imaging
systems, and electronic repair manuals. Trained as a certified Microsoft
and Citrix engineer, Brad holds a master’s degree in Public
Administration from Southern Illinois University.
Click here to contact
Brad Kelley by e-mail -
bkelley@mercury-assoc.com
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Steve Burnett, CMC
Associate Vice President
Steve is located in our Atlanta office. He has more
than 35 years’ experience as a management consultant. Prior to joining
the firm, Steve was the Director of public sector fleet management
consulting services for Transportation Consultants, Inc. where he was
responsible for general marketing, strategic development, and final
quality control for the public sector fleet division. In addition to his
work in the area of fleet management, he also has considerable
experience in the areas of financial and general management consulting.
He has held the positions of Partner and Executive National Director for
Government Services with Touche Ross & Co., now Deloitte & Touche, and
regional Vice President of David M. Griffith & Associates, Ltd. He hold
a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Tennessee and is a
Certified Management Consultant (CMC).
Click here to contact
Steve Burnett, CMC by e-mail -
sburnett@mercury-assoc.com
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Gary Hatfield
Senior Manager
Federal Fleet Consulting Services
Gary has over 32 year’s experience in fleet management, including 23
years directly managing large diverse fleets in Colorado and California,
and 10 years as a full time fleet consultant. Now based in Bradenton
Florida, he has directed and performed dozens of fleet studies for
cities, counties, utility companies, and universities. He has recently
taken the lead in performing several key fleet management improvement
projects for the Federal government for organizations such as NASA, the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the General Services Administration
(GSA), and
the U.S. Marine Corps. He is widely recognized as an expert on
alternative fuel vehicles. Before joining Mercury Associates, he owned
his own fleet consulting firm, Advanced Fleet Management Solutions, and
was formerly a Manager with the Fleet Consulting group of Maximus, Inc.
Gary holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.
Click here to contact Gary by email –
ghatfield@mercury-assoc.com
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Dr. Adlore Chaudier
Senior Manager
Federal Fleet Consulting Services
Adlore previously held a leadership position in the
U.S. General Services Administration, overseeing the reengineering of
the Federal travel per diem program and contributing to initiation of
relocation reengineering efforts for the Office of Governmentwide
Policy. Before joining GSA, Adlore was Vice President, Government
Services, for Runzheimer International, for which he worked for 22
years, holding management positions in Consulting Services,
Publications, and Business Vehicle Services. He has extensive experience
in fleet, travel and relocation management; vehicle reimbursement and
allowance programs; site selection; and housing market research. He has
led Federal (e.g., Coast Guard, DoD, IRS, NASA, USPS), Utility (e.g.,
Gulf States Utilities, Citizens Utilities), and Corporate (e.g., AT&T,
General Motors, Porsche Cars of North America, Starbucks) consulting
projects.
Click here to contact Adlore Chaudier by e-mail -
achaudier@mercury-assoc.com
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Janis Christensen, CAFM
Senior Manager
Corporate Fleet Consulting Services
Janis has more than 25 years experience in corporate
fleet management. She directs Mercury’s consulting services to
commercial clients, focusing on evaluating full-service lease contracts
and fleet management company performance, accident management and fleet
safety programs, policy and procedure development and fleet-related
regulatory compliance. Before beginning her consulting career in 1998,
Janis worked for over 20 years at TRW in New Jersey and California,
where she managed a fleet of 1,700 vehicles. Her responsibilities
included all aspects of fleet management from acquisition through
disposal. She also directed the company’s alternative transportation and
telecommuting programs.
Since 1984, she also has served the National Association of Fleet
Administrators in a variety of national and local positions. She left
the Board of Trustees as vice president in 1998, after forming her own
consulting company. She received NAFA’s highest honor, the Distinguished
Service Award, in 1999.
Click here to contact Janis Christensen, CAFM by e-mail -
jchristensen@mercury-assoc.com
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Tony Yankovich
Manager
Fleet Consulting Services
Tony is an experienced management consultant and
public sector manager. He specializes in program evaluations;
productivity and competitiveness assessments; fleet replacement planning
and financing strategies; maintenance facilities reviews and facilities
space needs assessments. Prior to joining Mercury Associates, he was
Senior Manager in the Fleet and Facilities Division of Eclipse, a
division of Bucher, Willis & Ratliff Corporation, and Senior Consultant
for Maximus. Before beginning his consulting career in 2000, he worked
for Kansas City/Wyandotte consolidated city/county government for twelve
years. During that time, he held several management positions in the
Public Works, Operations Services and County Clerk departments.
Click here to contact
Tony Yankovich by e-mail -
tyankovich@mercury-assoc.com
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Julie (Pearman) Blanford
Manager
Federal Travel and Relocation Consulting Services
Before joining Mercury Associates, Julie owned her own consulting firm,
Travel & Relocation Management Solutions. Prior to that, she was Senior
Management Consultant for Runzheimer International. With more than 15
years as a consultant, she has extensive experience in travel and
relocation management; vehicle reimbursement and allowance programs;
site selection; and housing market research. Julie is unique in her
experience with and knowledge of corporate, government and military
relocation policies and practices. From July 1999 through September
2000, she worked onsite in the Defense Integrated Travel and Relocation
Solutions (DITRS) Office in Arlington, Virginia, assisting DoD in its
travel-entitlement reengineering efforts. She has led Federal (e.g.,
Coast Guard, DoD, FDIC, GSA, VA) and Corporate (e.g., AT&T, AT&T
Solutions, AEtna, Deere, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Merck, McGraw-Hill,
Southwestern Bell Communications [SBC], and State Farm Insurance)
consulting projects.
Click here to contact Julie (Pearman) Blanford by e-mail -
jblanford@mercury-assoc.com
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Len Bammer
Senior Consultant
Fleet Consulting Services
Len has more that 20 years’ experience as a
public-sector fleet manager, most recently as the General Superintendent
of Maintenance for the Denver Regional Transportation District, where he
managed a fleet maintenance organization with 480 employees and an
annual operating budget of $46 million. During his 20-year fleet
management career, Len also has served as fleet manager for
Jefferson County, CO (northwest suburbs of Denver), Larimer County, and
the City of Colorado Springs. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the
Rocky Mountain Fleet Management Association. In his career as a
consultant Len has worked with the US Army, Los Angeles Metropolitan
Transit Authority, State of Oregon, Arapahoe County, and several private
para-transit companies. His particular areas of
expertise include operations planning and evaluation, cost benefit
analysis, transit operations, and project management. He holds a bachelor’s degree in
Business Administration from Regis University (Colorado Springs, CO).
Click here to contact Len Bammer by e-mail -
lbammer@mercury-assoc.com
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Al Lundy
Senior Consultant
Fleet Consulting Services
Al Lundy, Senior Fleet Consultant, has over 40 years experience with Navy and Air Force fleet management programs. For the Navy, Al was responsible for developing long-range activity support plans and conducting on site management reviews. He was responsible for policy development, revision, interpretation and implementation for the U.S. Navy vehicle fleet with a replacement cost of $1.2 billion, including more than 35,402 pieces of equipment. His experience covers inventory management, cost controls and budgeting, organizational improvement, policy manual development, and risk assessment. He is credited with two extensive revisions of the Navy’s railroad manual and the Navy’s policy manual on transportation management. Al holds an MBA in Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Click here to contact Al Lundy by e-mail -
alundy@mercury-assoc.com
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Nancy Deras
Senior Consultant
Corporate Fleet Consulting Services
Nancy has over 20 years experience as an account
management professional with U.S. Fleet Leasing (later Associates Fleet
Services, CitiCapital Fleet and GE Fleet Services). Ms. Deras was
responsible for managing the daily customer service needs of automotive
fleet clients and received several awards, including “Client Service
Representative of the Year” and “Keys to Success” for continuing
customer satisfaction. Other responsibilities included the hiring,
training and management of client relations representatives. At Mercury,
Nancy specializes in providing client management services for corporate
accounts.
Click here to contact Nancy Deras by e-mail -
nderas@mercury-assoc.com
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Steve Saltzgiver
Senior Consultant
Fleet Consulting Services
Steve has over 30 years' experience in the fleet management and public
transportation industry with the City of West Jordan, Utah Transit, and,
for the last 10 years, the State of Utah. his experience also includes
vehicle equipment sales, vehicle engineering/assembly, and diesel engine
maintenance and repair. He started his professional career in a vehicle
assembly plant, became a certified vehicle operator, lube technician,
diesel mechanic apprentice; moved onto journeyman mechanic, maintenance
supervisor, fleet manager, and finally the Director of the State of Utah
vehicle fleet. This career path has given him a unique perspective on,
and appreciation for, the interconnectivity and interdependence of
positions at various levels as they relate to the overall success of a
fleet management organization. Steve holds a Master's Degree in
Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix.
Click here to contact Steve Saltzgiver by e-mail -
ssaltzgiver@mercury-assoc.com
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Key associates within our firm are:
Kathe
Carter
Associate
Senior Fleet Management Consultant
Kathy recently joined Mercury Associates as a Senior Fleet Management
Consultant after retiring from the State of Michigan. During her 30-year
career there, she held management and executive positions in several
divisions of the Department of Management and Budget, including Vehicle
and Travel Services, Facilities, Mail, Logistics, Printing, and Real
Estate. As Director of Vehicle and Travel Services, she was responsible
for the management of a state-wide fleet of more than 8,000 vehicles. As
the State's Deputy Director for Management, she had responsibility for
managing annual capital and operating budgets of almost $1.2 billion, a
portfolio of capital assets worth $40 billion, bonds of $1.9 billion,
815 employees, and a wide variety of contractual services. Kathe has
completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local
Government at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, and
holds a Master's Degree in Economics from Michigan State University.
Click here to contact Kathe Carter by e-mail -
kcarter@mercury-assoc.com
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Dayton Rumbough
Associate
Senior Fleet Management Consultant
Dayton has 33 years of combined federal civil and military fleet service
that includes 20 years of middle and senior management experience. He
has directed and managed federal organizations involved in automotive
fleet and public works administration, operations and maintenance. His
background encompasses the development of strategic planning, vehicle
replacement programming, development of operating budgets, performing
quantitative/program analyses, organizational design, benchmarking,
business case analysis, developing instructional fleet training programs
and conducting fleet administrative, maintenance and operation audits
and assessments.
Click here to contact Kathe Carter by e-mail -
drumbough@mercury-assoc.com
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Dave Robertson, CAFM
Associate
Senior Fleet Management Consultant
Dave has over 30 years of experience as a
professional fleet manager in the public and the private sector. He held
three fleet management positions with the City of Houston (in the Fire,
Police, and General Services departments) over a period of 16 years, and
spent 17 years in the fleet leasing industry, working primarily with
over-the-road truck fleets. One of the best-known fleet managers in the
United States, Dave is a long-time member and the immediate past
President of the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA). He has
extensive experience as a fleet management instructor, has testified
before the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy on
legislative and regulatory initiatives of national significance to the
fleet industry and fleet management profession, and has authored
articles on a variety of fleet management topics. His particular areas
of expertise include emergency vehicle management, police vehicles, parts
management, maintenance staffing and work flow management, maintenance
facility planning, and alternative fuels. Dave holds a bachelor's degree
in History from Eckerd College.
Click here to contact
Dave Robertson, CAFM by e-mail -
drobertson@mercury-assoc.com
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Chris Amos, CAFM
Associate
Senior Fleet Management Consultant
Chris is a part-time consultant with Mercury
Associates in addition to serving as the Commissioner of Equipment
Services for the City of St. Louis, where he manages a fleet of 3,000
vehicles and pieces of equipment. He also edits fleet management and
alternative fuel articles for Automotive Digest. Chris’ previous fleet management experience includes five years as
Fleet Manager for St. Louis County, MO and ten years as a US Army
officer. Chris has participated in several federal rulemaking processes,
testified before the Senate Energy Committee, taught at numerous fleet
management seminars and conferences, and served as editor of several
important fleet management manuals published by the National Association
of Fleet Administrators. In 2003, he was honored as the inaugural
recipient of NAFA’s Excellence in Education Award; he also is a previous
recipient of NAFA’s Larry Goill Quality Fleet Management Ideas Award.
Chris holds a master’s degree in Information Systems Management from the
University of Southern California.
Click here to contact
Chris Amos, CAFM by e-mail -
camos@mercury-assoc.com
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Tom Adams
Associate
Senior Associate Fleet Management Consultant
Tom has had a varied career in the federal
government and as a management consultant. Over the past several years,
he has participated in and managed dozens of consulting engagements. He
has completed fleet management reviews, public works management
analyses, fueling studies, and developed detailed organizational
policies and procedures for various fleet management organizations
across the country. He has also developed comprehensive facilities
programs and plans for cities, counties, universities, and federal
government agencies. Prior to joining Mercury Associates, Tom was a
Senior Manager with Eclipse – a division of Bucher Willis and Ratliff
Corporation – and a Manager with the Maximus Fleet Management Consulting
Group. Before beginning his consulting career, he held a senior
management position in the Department of Defense where he implemented,
directed, and evaluated projects touching on a wide array of logistics
management disciplines, including transportation, facilities, supply,
maintenance, physical distribution, and training.
Click here to contact Tom Adams by e-mail -
tadams@mercury-assoc.com
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