Cogswell Named President of ABF’s Data-Tronics

David Cogswell has been named president of Data-Tronics Corp., the information technology subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corp., the company said.

Cogswell previously was Data-Tronics’ director of technical services, responsible for systems infrastructure, voice and data communications and capacity management. He joined Data-Tronics in 1979.

“Dave Cogswell has been an important part of Data-Tronics’ and [ABF Freight System’s] past success, and his experience and insight will be valuable as he now leads Data-Tronics into the future,” said Bob Davidson, Arkansas Best’s chief executive officer.

Cogswell will replace David Hardt, who will retire effective Jan. 31. Hardt has been with the company since 1968.

Data-Tronics develops and maintains most of the IT systems used by Arkansas Best, said David Humphrey, the company’s director of investor relations.

“All of our IT work [is] done here by” Data-Tronics, Humphrey said. “For that reason, we rarely go outside [of the company] for IT applications.”

Data-Tronics’ offerings include software designed to assist Arkansas Best with bill payment, freight classification and pricing, consolidation, docking operations and shipment tracking.

Arkansas Best is ranked No. 16 on the Transport Topics 100 list of for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada.