Gerry Mead has joined Phillips Industries as executive director of innovation.
In his new role, Mead will draw on his experience in fleet maintenance and advanced technology deployment to direct and implement Phillips product innovation initiatives and meet the challenges of future trucks and trailers.
Prior to taking on his new position at Phillips Industries, Mead was executive vice president of maintenance at US Xpress. While there, he was instrumental in the fleet’s adoption of truck and trailer technologies and maintenance practices that reduced their total cost of vehicle ownership, improved the driver experience and made significant improvements that advanced safety.
Before joining US Xpress, Mead held maintenance positions of increasing responsibilities at JB Hunt, Walmart and PAM Transport.
“We remain focused on continued market leadership in the product categories which we service today, and on driving constant innovation. Our connected vehicle technologies are designed with collaboration in mind, and we’re building momentum by expanding our list of supplier-partners with sensors and components that work on our platform,” says Rob Phillips, president and COO.
“Gerry has demonstrated through our longstanding relationship with him that he understands our objectives, and more importantly, he has the skills, hands-on experience, and industry relationships to add tremendous value. We are very excited to have Gerry leading such an important part of our business.”
The company says that Mead is recognized in the industry for his pursuit of new and improved technologies. In 2016, he was a recipient of HDT’s “Innovator of the Year” Award and just recently he was named as Tennessee Trucking Association’s “Maintenance Professional of the Year.” Gerry is a proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
