NTEA – The Association for the Work Truck Industry, appointed George Survant as senior director of fleet relations. In this newly created role, he will work with Christopher Lyon, NTEA director of fleet relations, to lead the Association in serving truck equipment distributors/manufacturers and end-user fleets.

"As senior director of fleet relations, I aim to increase the value proposition for fleet participation in NTEA initiatives and events. Another key focus is to provide the Association with a deeper fleet perspective on offerings and efforts going forward," Survant told Work Truck.

Survant has served in a variety of positions, including 25 years as a telecom fleet leader, 17 years as a power company fleet leader, and four years as an executive in the fleet safety certification and inspection industry. He has managed operations in 49 of the 50 states, with employees in several countries across the Pacific Rim.

Looking toward the future based on his past experience, Survant noted that his previous fleet experience "enables me to be an advocate for advancing the common interests of NTEA member companies and industry fleets."

Through this position, Survant hopes to strengthen the partnership between the fleet community and NTEA’s core membership.

"This new role gives me the opportunity to work with a great organization and experienced industry professionals. From my first interaction with NTEA in the mid-1980s as fleet manager for Hawaiian Telephone, I have seen the Association grow in a dynamic way. The quality and depth of NTEA’s resources and initiatives have benefited the fleet community — from fleet managers to end-users and drivers in the field — and I’m happy to be a part of such a dedicated organization," Survant said.

Throughout his career, Survant has earned many awards, including Professional Fleet Manager of the Year by Automotive Fleet magazine. At the time of his award, Survant was responsible for fleet strategy at Charter Communications in Charlotte, N.C. He became part of Charter Communications when the company purchased Time Warner Communications in early 2016. He joined Time Warner four years before and had been in the fleet industry for 40 years.

During an interview with AF magazine, Survant noted that since his entry into the fleet industry, he has witnessed its evolution from a field dominated by what he calls “legacy behavior” to one marked by sophisticated, technologically oriented practices.

“When I started in this business, the ability to effectively track, measure, and change or improve equipment reliability didn’t exist. Just about the only tools you had was to buy a larger percentage of new equipment,” he said. “Whereas today we have some very, very sophisticated tools to measure and manage equipment reliability, and we have a whole host of new strategies to improve that reliability that go beyond the simple 'let’s-replace-it-now' thinking that was prevalent 10 years ago.”

Additional honors include Vocational Fleet of the Year from Fleet Owner Magazine, NAFA Green Fleet Award for pioneering work with green solutions in a vocational truck fleet, Blue Sky Award for his leadership in developing and commercializing medium-duty hybrid trucks, and the National Biodiesel Board “Eye on Biodiesel” award for Initiative.

“Welcoming George to the team expands our ability to connect with commercial fleets across North America,” said NTEA Executive Director Steve Carey. “His proven expertise brings valuable perspective which will be a tremendous asset to our entire membership and the industry at large.”