Road Manager

Randy Strutz has a nicely appointed office at the Tampa headquarters of Quality Distribution Inc., a trucking firm primarily known for moving chemicals coast to coast. But as the company's new senior vice president of sales, it isn't likely he will be there much.

“I plan to spend 75% of my time on the road with sales people and customers,” says Strutz, who has settled into the position in the last few weeks upon joining the company. He most recently served as CEO of Morgan Systems Inc., a freight logistics and brokerage firm based in Atlanta.

Strutz, who hails from Chicago and is the father of 17-year-old quadruplet boys, has two decades of experience in transportation and logistics but has also spent time managing a television glass manufacturing plant. For six years he worked at Pacer International in positions including chief commercial officer, president of rail brokerage and chief operating officer, and also held various management positions for 13 years with Thomson S.A., a multinational manufacturer of consumer electronics that once owned RCA.

His first job after graduating Butler University in 1986 was as an accountant for the firm then known as Price Waterhouse.

Although he has been to Florida on vacation a few times, this is his first job in the state and he is in the process of relocating his family to the Gulf Coast from Columbus, Ohio. In talking with his wife about possible career relocations, Tampa was one of their top choices, he says.

Besides the nice spring weather, he might not have picked a better time to move here. QDI, the parent of trucking companies Quality Carriers Inc. and Boasso America Corp., has found itself in a bit of a slump after experiencing a 25% decline in revenue last year, to $613.6 million from a 2008 total of $815 million. That includes a 10% decline for the fourth quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, at $151.3 million.

On the upside, QDI reported generating a record amount of cash from operating activities in 2009 — $20 million more than the previous year — and completed a private exchange offer and the sale of substantially all of its tank wash assets last year. Gary Enzor, president and CEO of the Nasdaq-traded company, called 2009 “one of our most challenging years” in announcing financial results March 10, yet added that “we've never been better positioned to take full advantage of the opportunities that 2010 should provide.”

Strutz says he plans to capitalize on anticipated growth in the chemicals marketplace. He points out that tightening capacity and growing demand will be key strengths for QDI going forward.

“We think that the difficult times of the past few years have really strengthened us to take advantage of the market,” he says. “We feel we are nimble, efficient, tenacious about safety performance and unrelenting in providing value through service to our customers.”

QDI, which moved its headquarters to the Highland Oaks office park on Tampa's east side three years ago, has gotten Wall Street's attention lately. Its stock gained at least 15% value earlier this month following a new buy rating by Birmingham, Ala.-based Sterne Agee & Leach, whose analysts stated that “we believe that the company will hit its stride this cycle and reward investors” with a $15 target. Shares were trading between $7 and $8 in early April, reaching a new 52-week high.

Sterne analysts also noted that QDI is underutilizing some 1,500 trailers that it now owns, which may allow the company to grow revenues by up to $150 million without requiring additional capital investments. They stated that the resulting profits could be used to pay down debt and strengthen the company's balance sheet for future growth opportunities.

Strutz believes he is coming to work at QDI at the right time. “You never want to come into any position at the peak,” he says. “The company has done a tremendous job of reducing its cost base.”

In announcing Strutz's hiring April 5, Enzor stated that the new executive “will lead our sales organization with passion and accountability that will enable us to further extend our industry leadership position.”

Strutz points to QDI's stronghold on the chemical tanker transport market, adding that the company has one of the best safety ratings in the industry. The biggest challenge, besides gearing up sales again, is finding the right personnel to put behind the wheel: “Everyone is fighting for driver capacity, but that's a good problem to have,” he says.

While he is on the road for QDI, Strutz says he will maintain a moonlighting job he has held since earlier this year as adjunct professor of an online night course in upper-level cost accounting for Franklin University in Columbus. The course can be held pretty much anywhere he can get a reliable Internet connection, he says.

“I've taped classes from whatever hotel room I was staying in,” he says, noting that the current semester ends later this month. “I've gotten used to it.”
— Carl Cronan