The Board of Directors of Con-way Inc. announced a transition in board leadership in which Dr. W. Keith Kennedy, Jr., who has served as Con-way’s Chairman of the Board since 2004, will step down and be succeeded by Roy W. Templin, a current member of the company’s board.

Kennedy, 70, has been a member of Con-way’s Board since 1996. He will continue to serve on the board until he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 72. Templin, 53, has been an independent director since 2012 and is currently chairman of the Board’s Finance Committee.

The change was undertaken as part of the board’s planned leadership succession process, in which Templin was identified last June by the board as the eventual successor and has since worked closely with Kennedy to effect an orderly leadership transition. Templin becomes Con-way’s new chairman of the board effective immediately.

Templin joined the Con-way Board in 2012 following his retirement as executive vice president and CFO of Whirlpool Corp., a manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, a position that he held since September 2004. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds.

Prior to Whirlpool, he was vice president of finance and chief accounting officer for Kimball International Inc., a manufacturer of furniture and contract electronic products. Earlier in his career, Templin also worked for Cummins Inc., NCR Corp. and Price Waterhouse.