USA Truck CEO John Simone Takes Medical Leave
USA Truck CEO John Simone, 53, is taking a medical leave “to address issues relating to a serious medical condition," the truckload carrier said April 6.
The Van Buren, Arkansas-based fleet's board appointed Director Thomas Glaser as interim chief operating officer.
“John and his team have placed USA Truck firmly on the right path to executing the company’s strategic plan and unlocking its earnings potential,” Glaser said. “I look forward to assisting them in those efforts and wish John a speedy recovery.”
Glaser, who served as USA Truck’s COO for the first half of 2013, has more than 30 years of management experience in the trucking industry, including serving as president of truckload carriers Celadon Trucking Services and Arnold Transportation Services.
“The board understands that it is in John’s best interests at this time to focus on his health and recover from his illness,” Chairman Robert Peiser said in a statement.
USA Truck declined to specify the nature of Simone’s medical condition or the type or length of treatment or recovery time that will be necessary.
“We are pointedly not saying what he is being treated for, as he’s requested that,” Peiser told Transport Topics.
“I can say that it was at the point that we felt as a board that we needed to put somebody in on an interim basis, and we were very fortunate to have Tom [Glaser] on our board,” he said.
Asked about putting in an interim COO instead CEO, he said the company “wanted to be careful not to give any signals” that Glaser was replacing Simone, adding that the company is not searching for a replacement CEO.
Publicly traded USA Truck ranks No. 50 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
