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CEO Jeff Henning
As an undergraduate, I studied Business and Communication Arts at Michigan State University between 1971 and 1975. In 1986 Chrysler Corporation sponsored my graduate education through the Advanced Management Program at Michigan State, allowing me to earn my MBA in 1988.
I started my career in vanpooling in 1976 as a consultant to Detroit Edison. I worked with George Jackson, the Manager of Employee Services at Edison to develop a comprehensive vanpool program for Edison employees. That working experience with George developed into a personal and business relationship spanning 30 years.
My research into vanpooling models for the Edison program led me to Chrysler Corporation's employee vanpool program, where I met with Herb Wood and Tom McDonald, executives in Chrysler's Public Responsibility Division. I integrated many of Chrysler's program elements into the Edison program. When Chrysler was selected in 1977 by the Federal government to provide vanpool support services in a demonstration program in Minneapolis, I was hired by Chrysler's new subsidiary, Van Pool Services, Inc. (later changed to VPSI), to launch the Minnesota demonstration.
The Minnesota program was an interesting mix that brought together: VPSI as a vanpool operator, the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) the local public transit (bus) operator; and Public Service Options, a company that specialized in transitioning certain public sector services to the private sector when such a move seemed to make sense. It was here I met (and later hired) Steve Pederson, our Vice President of Fleet and Risk Management. Steve and I have worked together to build VPSI ever since.
Based on the success of the Minnesota demonstration which is still going strong, VPSI was selected by the California Department of Transportation in 1979 to launch a statewide vanpool program there…the first in the nation. I moved to the Los Angeles area to establish VPSI's Customer Service Center. We've maintained our presence there ever since - and California has become one of our largest and most important markets.
As VPSI continued to expand and grow throughout the country, I was asked in 1980 to take on the role of Western Area Manager and to oversee operations west of the Mississippi from an office in Denver, Colorado. In 1981, I was promoted to Vice President and relocated to the Detroit, Michigan area. My first order of business was to write a comprehensive standard operating procedure manual for the company that could be applied across a growing number of VPSI operations nationally.
In 1991, I was elected President of VPSI by the company's Board of Directors. I continued to report to Chrysler executives in diverse divisions such as; Fleet Division, Truck Operations, Dealer Operations, and Sales & Marketing Planning. This experience provided VPSI with a unique insight into the operations of Chrysler and allowed us to develop as an entrepreneurial company within a world class corporation. I've always attributed much of our success to that dichotomy. We've got a nimble, small-company mindset with the systems and discipline of a major corporation.
In 1996, Chrysler decided to sell VPSI amidst a campaign to spin off non-core business applications, and our executive team and I presided over the sale to Team Rental Group, which ended up buying (and becoming) Budget Rent a Car some months later. It was during that time that Mike Norvell and I negotiated the acquisition of Vipre from Philips Electronics in the Netherlands and later established Vipre operations in the UK and Ireland.
In 2001, Budget decided to sell VPSI and for the first time in our history, we emerged as a stand-alone company. In 2007, the ownership team was augmented with the arrival of ZS Fund LP, a private equity firm. In 2010 we joined forces with TPG Growth, and I was asked to continue in my role as President and CEO, the role I still love performing for VPSI today
I feel incredibly fortunate. It's been a 30-year career marked by growth, innovation and evolution. I've gained tremendous experience reporting to talented executives in major American corporations. I've been honored to participate at many levels in almost every vanpooling program in America and more recently, Europe. While many things have changed, one thing has remained constant throughout my career. I thrive on the can-do attitude of the talented and loyal team we've assembled at VPSI and I honestly believe in the power of working together with transportation professionals in the private and public sectors to achieve programs that are tailored to meet the unique needs of different commuters throughout the world.
