Working to ensure every fleet operator, passenger, and pedestrian gets home safely every day.

‘Safe Fleet Saves Lives’ is not just a corporate tagline.

It is a refrain that beats in the hearts and minds of everyone in our leadership team and across our organization. Safety is not just a business concern for us; it’s a vital human need. It pays dividends not only in profits and productivity, but loyalty, customer satisfaction, and peace of mind.

MEET YOUR TEAM

John Knox

JOHN KNOX

Chairman & CEO
John Knox is Chairman and CEO of Safe Fleet. John joined Safe Fleet in early 2014 as President & CEO. He was previously Chairman, President, and CEO of ADCO Global and Chairman of Royal which bought ADCO Global in 2013. From 2002 to 2005, John was President and COO of Sovereign Specialty Chemicals. John spent much of his career with The Valspar Corp in operations and executive roles. His last position was President of Valspar Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He began his career with ICI in sales and marketing. In addition, he has served for 10-years as a trustee of the University Of Virginia School Of Engineering and has served as a Board of Director of Velsicol Corporation, Rutherford Chemicals, and Strive Logistics. John is a member of YPO International (Young Presidents Organization).
Mike Schulte

Mike Schulte

President

Mike Schulte is the President of Safe Fleet. Mike comes to Safe Fleet with a strong track record of growth focused executive leadership at leading Fortune 500 brands such as General Motors and Danaher, most recently serving as the Group President of the Mechanical Products and Solutions division at Atkore International. Mike began his career as a District Sales and Service Manager for the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. He most recently served as the Group President of the Mechanical Products and Solutions business at Atkore International. Prior to joining Atkore, Mike served in a variety of Executive Leadership roles at Danaher including President of Gilbarco Veeder Root, President of Hennessy Industries, and Sr. Vice President of Danaher Motion Group.

Chuck Gessler

Chuck Gessler

Chief Financial Officer

Chuck Gessler is the Chief Financial Officer of Safe Fleet. Chuck joined Safe Fleet from Bushnell Inc. where he was a senior executive responsible for financial and administrative functions of this global consumer products company. Previous to Bushnell, Chuck was in senior leadership roles with Ply Gem. Chuck began his career with a large public accounting firm where he provided auditing and guidance for multi-national, Fortune 500 companies. Chuck has been very successful in creating value with privately owned businesses and has been involved with several successful recapitalizations. Chuck’s experience includes ERP implementations, acquisitions, and managing significant organic growth.

Andrew Schmolka

Andrew Schmolka

Sr. VP & Chief Legal Officer

Andrew is a seasoned general corporate and transactional, M&A/finance, and IP/technology lawyer and business executive. Prior to joining Safe Fleet, Andrew served as SVP and General Counsel of Penton, a global B2B provider of digital/SaaS technology, data, and business intelligence solutions, which was successfully acquired by Informa. Before that, he was Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer, and General Counsel of a financial technology venture serving Wall Street institutions. He also was a senior legal executive at an NYSE-listed multimedia content and business services subsidiary of KKR, after beginning his career as a corporate attorney for five years at the global law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Bob Shupp

Bob Shupp

Sr. VP, Operations, Supply Chain, and Strategic Initiatives

Bob Shupp has over 20 years of experience in operations and supply chain management. Prior to joining Safe Fleet, Bob was VP of Operations for Ames True Temper, a manufacturer of non-powered lawn and garden equipment. From 2007-2011, Bob held executive level positions at FCI USA, Inc., including VP and General Manager – Americas. From 1999-2006, he served as the VP of Operations and Sales for Yazaki Corporation. Bob’s early career was spent in a variety of operations and supply chain assignments with AMP, Inc. / Tyco Electronics, a global leader in electronic connectors.

Eric Combs

Eric Combs

Sr. VP, Fire, EMS & Industrial
Eric is the Vice President of Safe Fleets’ Commercial Vehicle Video and Installation group, responsible for strategic video sales and market share growth of Rear View Safety and American Midwest Fleet Solutions business units. Eric joined Safe Fleet brand Elkhart Brass in 2003 as a product design engineer, moving into progressively senior roles in product management, global sales, marketing, engineering, and operations. Since 2015, Eric has held a number of strategic senior leadership roles at Safe Fleet, most recently as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives.
Mike Hagan

Mike Hagan

Sr. VP, Passenger Transportation, Law Enforcement & Waste

Mike Hagan is the Senior Vice President of the Passenger Transportation, Law Enforcement and Waste division. He most recently served as the VP of Product Management, Passenger Transportation, Law Enforcement & Waste, and was previously the VP of Transit Bus & Rail and Specialty Manufacturing’s (SMI) Director of Sales and Marketing. Since 2007, he has served SMI in various operations and product management roles. Prior to SMI, he worked in a variety of engineering and LEAN operations roles for Lennox International and Emerson Electric Company.

Steve Kiefer

Steve Kiefer

Sr. VP, Commercial Vehicle North America
Steve Kiefer is the Senior Vice President of the Safe Fleet Commercial Vehicle North America group. Steve brings a strong track record of leading and developing channel and market growth strategies, new product development, engineering, and product management. Prior to Safe Fleet, Steve spent 7 years at Manitex, a manufacturer of truck-mounted cranes and specialized lifting equipment, most recently as their President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Manitex, Steve was the Business Development, Sales, and Marketing VP at the Pettibone Group, a division of The Heico Companies, and also served as President of Intellitec Products, a provider of energy management, electronics, lighting, and controls, serving a variety of markets including Truck and Trailer.
Chris Akiyama

Chris Akiyama

VP, School Bus

Chris Akiyama has over 18 years of experience in progressively senior management roles in the video surveillance industry. Since he joined Seon in 2006, Chris has successfully led Seon’s sales teams to achieve significant growth in revenue and market share in the school bus and transit mobile video surveillance industry. Chris brings his in-depth knowledge of security and surveillance technology to his role on the Board of Directors at the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) and is a contributing member of the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT).

Tom Brodsky

Tom Brodsky

VP, Advanced Technology Group

Tom Brodsky is an experienced technical leader, researcher, and software developer receiving his doctorate for work on motion analysis, 3-D computer vision, and camera calibration. He was the Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and main software architect of a highly efficient, flexible, and distributed video analytics software suite at ActiveEye Inc. until the business was acquired by Honeywell in 2007. Tom remained at Honeywell operating as Technology Integration Leader, successfully delivering video analytics solutions across Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions (ACS).

Mark Griffin

Mark Griffin

VP, Law Enforcement

Mark Griffin is the Vice President of the Safe Fleet’s Law Enforcement Business Unit. Mark joined Safe Fleet from COBAN Technologies, where he served as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Mark brings to Safe Fleet more than 25 years of experience working within the aerospace and defense, telecommunications, and IT integration industries. Prior to joining COBAN, Mark held executive management positions directing national sales and marketing organizations at Pac-West Telecomm, Trans-Tel Central, and Food Safety Net Services. Mark has also held general management roles, including serving as the President and CEO of TexLink Communications, where he led the organization to record growth and its eventual profitable sale to Pac-West Telecomm.

Ross Haith

Ross Haith

VP / General Manager, Kerr Industries
Ross is the VP / General Manager of Kerr Industries. He is an accomplished Sales and Operations Executive with over 35 years of automotive industry experience. Ross joined Safe Fleet in 2018 as VP, Business Development and Strategy, from Leggett & Platt where he was President of their Commercial Vehicle Products Group consisting of three divisions including Masterack. While at Leggett & Platt he built a world-class team where his strategic vision and transformational leadership culminated in a successful divesture and transition of the CVP Group to new strategic owners. Previous to Leggett & Platt, Ross spent close to 15 years at Ford Motor Company in progressively senior sales, marketing, and operations management roles, most notably as Sales Manager, Ford Commercial Truck Sales and Marketing Operations.
Lori Jetha

Lori Jetha

VP, Marketing

Lori Jetha is Safe Fleet’s Vice President of Marketing, responsible for development of strategic branding and marketing initiatives. She leads Safe Fleet’s national social campaign and bullying prevention program, United to End Bullying, whose goal is to provide tools, resources, and funding to stop bullying and empower young people to stand up against abusive behavior. Lori joined Safe Fleet in 2014 as part of the Seon acquisition. Since then she has led marketing efforts for the Passenger Transportation, Law Enforcement and Waste Division, Advanced Technology Group, and Corporate Marketing. Lori has 20+ years of management experience in branding, customer marketing, product management, and strategic marketing communications at B2B technology and telecommunications companies.

Ken Kolbinski

Ken Koblinski

VP, Supply Chain

Ken Koblinski is the Vice President of Supply Chain for Safe Fleet. Ken spent 11 years with General Motors as Global Commodity Manager. He next moved to Visteon Corporation as Associate Director – North American Interiors. Then, he moved to Katy Industries to serve as Director of Procurement. His most recent role was Global Commodity Director for Ingersoll Rand. In this position, he had direct responsibility for managing the international Steel and Metal Fabrications Team.

Bob Parks

Bob Parks

VP, Human Resources

Bob Parks, PHR, is the Vice President of Human Resources for Safe Fleet. Prior to joining Safe Fleet, he spent 13 years at Grundfos Pumps where he most recently served as the Director for Human Resources. In addition to his HR responsibilities, Bob has held responsibilities in strategy, process improvement, business excellence, and training. Prior to joining Grundfos, Bob spent two years in staff level Human Resource roles with BHA Group, Inc.

Steve Powell

Steve Powell

Managing Director, Durite and Labcraft
Steve Powell is the Managing Director of Durite and Labcraft, two strong and well-established UK-based vehicle safety and lighting brands collectively known as Safe Fleet Commercial Vehicle (CV) Europe. Steve brings his substantial experience in the Commercial Vehicle market to Safe Fleet, most recently serving as Vice President of Webasto’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business unit. Previous to that, Steve held a variety of roles at Webasto, leading the development and execution of sales, marketing, and product engineering strategies to provide power and thermal management solutions to the automotive industry.
Daniel Pulskamp

Daniel Pulskamp

VP, Transit Bus & Rail

Dan Pulskamp is the Vice President for Safe Fleet’s Transit Bus & Rail business unit where he leads a high-performing sales and support team. Dan is an experienced transportation professional who began his career as an Electrical Engineer before moving into Product Management and ultimately into roles encompassing Global Sales, Operations and Executive Management. Dan joined Safe Fleet in 2019 from DTiQ, a leading provider of intelligent video-based surveillance and loss prevention services, where he served as President. Prior to that, he was Executive VP Global Sales for March Networks Inc. responsible for managing global markets, product strategy, and building sales, service and delivery teams across the globe.

Joseph Schechter

Joseph Schechter

VP, Rear View Safety

Joseph Schechter is Vice President of Rear View Safety. Joseph joined Safe Fleet from Rear View Safety, where he served as Executive Vice President. Rear View Safety is the industry leader in the sales and distribution of backup camera systems and safety technology, specializing in the commercial and RV industry. Joseph oversees all new products, adding his creative and innovative know-how to every aspect of vehicle camera technology. Having a reputation for always delivering on his promises, customers are always Joseph’s number one priority.

Curtis Smith

Curtis Smith

VP, Operations, Passenger Transportation, Law Enforcement & Waste

Curtis has been involved in the security and surveillance industry for over 20 years in a variety of senior roles. Prior to joining Seon in 2015, he held positions as Senior Engineering Manager and Director of Research Development at Honeywell Video Systems and Silent Witness Enterprises Ltd. respectively. Prior to that Curtis held managerial roles encompassing supply chain, process engineering and manufacturing in Long Island, NY.

Patrick Ulman

Patrick Ulman

VP, Corporate Development

Patrick is the Vice President of Corporate Development responsible for maximizing the growth opportunities of the Safe Fleet portfolio through a combination of strategic acquisitions and focused growth initiatives. Previously, Patrick spent 4 years as a Director of Corporate Development and M&A with Polaris Industries located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to Polaris, Patrick spent 10 years with General Electric advancing through roles in Quality, Sourcing, and Corporate Development positions in their GE Capital Railcar Services, GE Equipment Services, and GE Energy businesses.