Trucker Buddy Board Fires Leader

Trucker Buddy Inc., the organization that was founded in 1993 to set up pen-pal relationships between professional truck drivers and children, has fired its president and management firm.

Tom Wetzel of Norcom International Corp. was terminated April 9 after TBI's board of directors determined a change was necessary.

"The goals that the board set forth for him were not met," said Susan Hind, the organization's treasurer.

Those goals included fund raising and increasing the number of schoolchildren and drivers participating in the program.

Wetzel, representing Norcom, had been president of TBI since June 1998. His hiring represented the organization's effort to improve its fund raising and financial management performance.

Wetzel's contract with the group expired at the time of his firing. The board of directors is looking for a new management team to replace Wetzel and Norcom.

"We've got our board meeting on June 11 – we'll take proposals and be reviewing other management possibilities," said Hind, who is also the industry relations manager at OmniTRACS, a division of Qualcomm Inc.

For the full story, see the May 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.