‘Intense and Energetic’ Michael Card Takes Federation Reins in Las Vegas

This story appears in the Oct. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — After more than a quarter-century of involvement with American Trucking Associations, Michael Card, the eager policy enthusiast from Oregon, is ready to become chairman — and when he takes the top leadership position at the federation, he expects to broaden his list of interests.

“My goal is to raise the influence of ATA. I want to improve [the] influence that ATA has in the world. I won’t be focused on any one issue, but I want clout for ATA. That’s the goal of any chairman,” said Card, who is president of Combined Transport Inc.

Bill Graves, ATA’s president and CEO, said that over the coming year, Card and the association will have to grapple with independent contractor issues, resolving the full implementation of CSA, driver hours of service, electronic hours logging, new entrant requirements and a clearinghouse for drug and alcohol screening.

“Mike is intense and energetic. He’s very proud to have the opportunity to serve as chairman of the leading advocacy organization for our industry. He’s very driven and doesn’t plan to waste this year,” said Graves.

Pivoting and adapting is one of the things Card does best, with his family’s business serving as the prime example. A heavy-haul and specialized carrier and logistics company based here, Combined Transport was founded in 1980 by Card’s father, Richard, an owner-operator who wanted a comprehensive trucking company rather than just a few trucks. He saved up enough money to get his company by working on the Alaska pipeline in the 1970s.

Mike, his brother and his stepbrother bought out their father in 1990 and expanded the small company into a carrier with nearly 400 trucks providing three lines of truck transportation and profitably generating about $125 million a year in revenue.

“We’ve grown and developed what Dad started. He drove and was an engineer, but not an administrator. He needed help,” said Mike of his work with David, his brother; Ron Moore, his stepbrother; and later with Jon, another brother.

“What my brothers and I did was take a very solid company and grow it with diversified management skills,” Mike said.

On a personal level, at age 25 Card had to move away from Oregon to help expand Combined, but he didn’t like the idea of a long-distance romance. Mike solved the problem by getting married to the woman who is now his wife of 28 years, Pam, after knowing her for just three months.

Card, 53, succeeded Dan England at the conclusion of ATA’s recent Management Conference & Exhibition. He is now the organization’s 68th chairman, and England slides over to become chairman of the board’s executive committee.

Mike Card learned about trucking and the importance of issue advocacy from his father. Dick Card was testifying before a U.S. Senate committee and talking with Oregon’s governor even when he was an owner-operator and Combined was nothing more than a plan.

“Dad always instilled in us a desire to give back to the industry and be involved with it. He said that if we didn’t do it, others would, and then it wouldn’t be as good,” Mike said.

As proof of that interest, Card said ATA is vendor code No. 3 at Combined.

“We’ve been involved with ATA as long as I’ve been here,” he said.

Card has worked on insurance and tort issues and been chairman of an ATA task force on the issues in 2006-2008. He briefed insurance executives at Lloyd’s of London on the nature of trucking in the United States and the industry’s worthiness for underwriting. He also founded a domestic insurance company with Ray Kuntz, chairman and CEO of Watkins & Shepard Trucking and ATA’s 2007-2008 chairman.

Kuntz, Card’s partner in American Trucking and Transportation Insurance Co., said, “Mike was one of the first guys I met after joining ATA. It was at MCE in the fall of ’97 at a session for new members.”

“We started ATTIC around 2003. It grew out of the Insurance Task Force. We looked into that, and it made sense,” Kuntz said, adding that the captive company — an insurance firm owned by the enterprises that it insures — now covers about 3,500 trucks.

Card said four other carriers have joined ATTIC since its founding and that “more will be reaping the benefits of this insurance strategy soon.”

Card also has worked on highway policy, size and weight limits, the Wren Committee on ATA organization and structure, and still serves on the board of the American Transportation Research Institute. He’s a past president of the Oregon Trucking Associations, where he worked on independent contractor issues, and is an active member with the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association.

“Mike’s like the Energizer bunny . . . his energy amazes me,” said Kuntz. “He’s as well-qualified to be chairman as anyone who has served.”

People who know Card said he strikes a balance between maintaining sincere, outgoing interest in people and a desire to make decisions and move briskly.

“He’s a very astute businessman who works smart. He sets a standard for others,” said Debra Dunn, OTA’s president.

“He’s very driven. He sees what needs to happen, and he’s willing to do the work to get it done,” Dunn added.

“He does listen to people, but then he decides — and he has a great sense of humor that he weaves into what he says,” Dunn said.

“Mike’s a bright guy with lots of ideas, and he’ll be a great chairman,” England said of the man succeeding him. “He’s very competent, and people like him. They’ll gather around him.”

England added, “When an issue is being vetted or discussed, he’ll look at it from all different angles. He comes about it from a fresh perspective.”

David Card, Combined’s vice president of operations, gives his brother a great deal of credit for leading the company through the recent recession. In 2008, the company experienced something new, a decline in revenue.

“Our revenue was declining for the first time ever. We’d had growing pains, yes, but not declining revenue,” Dave said.

“Mike had the vision to make tough calls and decisions. We cut back. We didn’t replace people who retired or quit. We stopped giving out company T-shirts and caps that customers and everybody loved, but that saved $50,000 a year.

“During the recession there was no profit-sharing, no Christmas party, bonuses, picnics or fishing trips. I admire his judgment and vision on that. We sailed through uncharted waters, and it was scary,” Dave said.

But ATA’s Graves said his new chairman also has a whimsical side, noting that Card uses a duck’s quack as the ring tone on his cellphone. The reason? Card is a graduate of the University of Oregon at Eugene and a devoted fan of the school’s athletic teams, known as the Ducks.

“He’s infectiously joyous, fun and vivacious. He sinks his teeth into everything he tries,” Pam Card said  of her husband. The Cards have two children in their 20s. Nick is an engineer in California who works on information technology patent applications. Stephanie recently moved to Arizona to attend culinary school, although she worked in Combined’s accounting department over the summer and used to be a parts runner in the maintenance shop.

Jon Card, vice president of special projects, said it’s sometimes hard to adjust to the notion that his younger brother is a CEO.

“Mike was always the quiet one, but not so much anymore. He was studious,” said Jon, who joined Combined in 1994 after 20 years in the Navy.

“Mike does what many CEOs do, and yet I know him. Sometimes, I can’t believe it. I can’t imagine the CEO of Intel meeting with a new hire, but Mike does that here. He has the good traits you would expect in a CEO, but he talks to people. He’ll talk to any driver who comes in. He doesn’t put himself on a pedestal.”

Jon was a senior chief electronics technician in the Navy, and now he handles information technology and “anything with electricity in it” for Combined. Jon said he has a love of gadgetry, but Mike is not always eager to spend. Recently, they’ve been arguing over a document imaging system. Arguments can be common in such a large family.

Mike’s mother, Nancy, died of cancer when he was 10. Dick Card later met Virginia Moore, a widow with three children. This led to a Brady Bunch-event — and the company’s name. Dick and Virginia got married and their combined family became the inspiration for Combined Transport. All of the six children have played a role at the company.

“We were like the Brady Bunch, except with lots of knives and cussing,” said Mike.

Joining the three Card brothers were Ron Moore, vice president of driver services; his sister, Cassandra, now retired from the company; and their brother, Mitch, who later died of a brain aneurism.

“The boardroom table here is a lot like their breakfast table,” said Kathy Towers, the office manager at Combined, who plans to retire in December after 30 years with the company.

Towers said she has witnessed “a lot of arguing, fighting and being mad” among “the boys” at Combined. “But when it’s over, it’s over. They come to an agreement, and they’re fine.”

Dave said things are a lot quieter now than they were in their youth.

“Compared to growing up, working together is a breeze because we’ve already got out our hostilities. Growing up together prepared us to work together,” he said.

The Card brothers and Ron Moore now own Combined.

The company has three divisions: glass, heavy-haul — including wind-turbine towers — and general flatbed. The typical length of haul is 800 to 1,000 miles, and loads can weigh up to 260,000 pounds, far in excess of the usual 80,000-pound limit.

In addition to windmills, heavy-haul loads include electric transformers, heavy equipment and machinery, and even General Electric engines to be attached to Boeing aircraft. The size of the load means Combined maintains a permitting department to file for variations to the normal limits.

Mike estimates Combined’s revenue for this year at $125 million, with a 95% operating ratio.

The company owns most of its equipment and has nearly 400 tractors, which it supplements with owner-operators. The brothers manage about 375 drivers and 90 office and shop employees.

Joel Dandrea, executive vice president of the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association, said Card and his brothers exemplify their sector of trucking.

“They’re innovative and not afraid to adapt or change for the customers,” Dandrea said.

“Mike will help make a difference for all carriers in ATA. He gets the big picture. He’s a clear, objective thinker and thorough in evaluating the effects of regulations. He’ll dissect issues with the big picture in mind, and he won’t waste much time,” he said.

Card borrows ideas and adapts on the run. He liked the office design at Schneider National’s Green Bay, Wis., headquarters and used the concept for Combined’s office here when it was built in 1999. He also credited Don Schneider for changing that company from a purely family business to an enterprise run by professional managers.

Card wants to attract young business students to careers in trucking and use social media to do it. He wants to use those same tools to tell the nation the industry’s story.

“We need to raise awareness of the importance of trucking,” he said.

He’s willing to tell that story to officials from both political parties. A display case in his lobby features a picture of him with Dick Armey, the former House majority leader and a conservative Texas Republican. Next to that picture is one with Card and former Sen. Bill Bradley, the liberal Democrat from New Jersey who played professional basketball for the New York Knicks.

“As a business person I have my leanings, but I need to be able to work with both sides. It’s like what Thomas Jefferson said: ‘In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.’ ”