The founder and chairman of Boyd Bros. Transportation, Clayton, Ala., has announced his retirement.

Dempsey Boyd, 74, intends to retire from the company's operations at year's end. The Board has elected Boyd Whigham, 64 to serve as the non-executive Chairman of the Board beginning Jan. 1.
In recognition of Boyd's 45 years of dedication and leadership, the Board of Directors has given him the honorary title of Chairman Emeritus.
Dempsey Boyd was born and raised in Barbour County, Alabama. He began driving trucks in 1946 and, with brothers Cecil Boyd and J. Hilly Boyd, he founded Boyd Bros. Transportation in 1956. While his brothers left the company in 1965, Dempsey Boyd remained and has been an integral part of the company's operations ever since, leading Boyd Bros. through four decades of growth to become one of the largest flatbed carriers in the country.
Boyd Whigham has been a director of the company since 1989. He has been the District Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit, in Barbour and Bullock Counties, Alabama, since 1993. Prior to 1993, he maintained a general civil law practice in Clayton, Alabama.
Separately, the Company announced the resignation of Miller Welborn from the Board. Welborn has served on the company's Board of Directors since 1998. Welborn, formerly co-founder and chairman of Welborn Transport in Tuscaloosa, Ala., joined Boyd Bros. as vice president in December 1997 when Boyd Bros. acquired his company.