Q&A
SPECIALTY ALL THE WAY WRITTEN BY SYLVIA ARROYO
was appointed president and CEO of E-ONE Inc., the fire vehicle design and manufacturing division of Allied Specialty Vehicles, Collins Bus’ parent company. Peters hails from the specialty vehicle industry. He spent five years at Appleton, Wis.-based Pierce Manufacturing Inc., which manufactur- ers fire and rescue vehicles. He began there as a division general manager and, most recently, was senior vice president of worldwide sales and mar- keting. Before that he was president of Akron Brass of Wooster, Ohio, a marketer and maker of high-performance life safety, fire fighting and emergency rescue equipment. Akron Brass is the parent company of school bus LED and elec- tronics manufacturer Weldon Technologies. In total, Peters brings to the school bus indus-
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try 30 years of experience in building customer relationships and business growth. STN recently spoke with Peters about his new role in an in- dustry that might be considered new to him, but has similarities to the specialty vehicle market.
46 School Transportation News August 2013
ype A school-bus manufacturer Collins Bus Corporation earlier this year welcomed Dan Peters as its new president. His predecessor, Kent Tyler,
SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION NEWS:
What would you say are some similarities between the specialty vehicle industry and the
school bus industry? PETERS: Tree months ago, my answer to this question was, small space with many players, dedicated dealers serving the customer and end-user customers scrambling for fewer and fewer dollars to achieve their objective. Tese are all still real, but I recently attended the Kansas State Pupil Transportation Association (KSP- TA) Summer Symposium, and the passion from the school bus drivers was eye opening to me. It parallels the commitment I saw from firefight- ers, so I would say today the largest similarity is the dedication of the individuals who drive the vehicles we build.
STN: Based on your knowledge of and expe-
rience in the specialty vehicle industry, what do you bring, or intend to bring, into the school bus segment?
PETERS: I start every day with a focus on the customer. If we ensure that everything we do is customer focused, from designing the product to shipping parts, things have a way of
COLLINS BUS’ NEW PRESIDENT TALKS ABOUT HOW HIS PAST EXPERIENCE WILL HELP DRIVE THE COMPANY’S SHARE IN THE TYPE A SCHOOL BUS SEGMENT
DAN PETERS, PRESIDENT, COLLINS BUS CORPORATION
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