Don Schneider ran a multi-billion dollar company, but that didn't mean he had to wear a suit.
His company was Schneider National, a Green Bay-based trucking business. Schneider reinvented the family business known for its big orange trucks, and in the process, he helped reinvent the trucking industry across the United States.
Donald J. Schneider died Friday after a recent bout with Alzheimer's disease. He was 76 years old.
Don Schneider and the family business were born in the same year: His father, AJ “Al” Schneider, started the company in 1935 after selling the family car and buying a truck.
By 1971, the younger Schneider was leading the company, and largely under his watch, the company's revenues grew from less than $100 million to $3.4 billion.
He served as president and chief executive officer until 2002 and as chairman of the board until 2007.
Schneider National currently has 11,600 drivers and 1,900 independent drivers, and tens of thousands of trucks and trailers.
“If you lined up all our trucks, trailers and containers end to end, you'd create an orange wall stretching from Green Bay to Columbus, Ohio,” said Chris Lofgren, who succeeded Schneider as president and CEO.
“When it comes to trucking, there is no leader more influential than Don,” Lofgren said. “It would be hard to overestimate his role.”
Others agreed.
“Don Schneider was a visionary who brought the business acumen and technology that paved the way and set the standard for the modern advancement of our industry,” American Trucking Associations president and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement from Schneider.
“He was one of those really key leaders who really took the industry in a new direction,” Richard D. Armstrong, chairman of Armstrong & Associates, a transportation logistics and consulting firm in Stoughton, said earlier. “He grew the company dramatically and transformed the industry in a lot of good, positive ways.”
Schneider had long been one of Wisconsin's richest men, but he liked the simple things. He liked blue-collar shirts and a simple office with a standing desk. He welcomed any driver in town. He did what he looked like doing.
The man who ran the family business in Green Bay also participated in civic life as a longtime member of the Green Bay Packers' board of directors and executive committee.
“Don was an invaluable member of the Packers executive committee for more than 20 years,” Packers chairman emeritus Bob Harlan said in a company statement. “His business skills were exceptional. He was a great confidant to me and I relied on his advice on many occasions.”
“Don had an incredible passion for the Packers and was as passionate on game day as any fan,” Harlan said.
Schneider is disciplined in both his professional and personal life, and after suffering from heart disease and angioplasty more than 20 years ago, he completely changed his diet and exercise habits.
Deeply religious, he didn't even like to brag about his love of the competitive element of running.
“At my core, I love to win,” Schneider said in 2002. Before he could finish the word “win,” he regained his composure.
“I don't want to beat anybody,” he said, “I just want to know if I'm performing to the best of my ability.”
While growing up, he worked in various jobs for what was then Schneider Transportation. He earned his way through a Catholic high school and St. Norbert College on his own. After serving in the Army, he went on to study at the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a master's degree in accounting. He returned to Green Bay and worked for his father.
The industry was very different then, with federal regulations limiting trucking companies to designated routes, rates and loads. Around the same time he took over as president, Schneider Transport received a paper trucking permit from the Interstate Commerce Commission.
For Schneider, it led to good business and experience running a large trucking operation.
As deregulation took hold, Schneider responded to other changes, too. He also deunionized his operation, but did so strictly by the rules. He founded Schneider Logistics, a tech-savvy company that planned delivery logistics for other companies.
Schneider and his company have repeatedly led the way and changed the way others do business. He installed satellite communications on all of his trucks. He pioneered the so-called trucking sector, which handles trailer-sized freight. He expanded the business internationally and the company now operates in Canada, Mexico and China.
“Don is a truck driver who thinks like an economist,” private investment consultant John Terry said in 1994. “He drove trucks for his father, he learned the business, he got his education. You can't fool him.”
His professional career included serving as chairman of the Business Advisory Council of the Northwestern University Transportation Center, a member of the Board of Governors of the Chicago Federal Reserve System, and a director of the Fort Howard Paper Company and St. Norbert College.
In public life, Schneider and his wife, Pat, donated large amounts of money to charities, including St. Norbert's, where Donald J. Schneider Stadium now stands. In addition, the Schneider National Foundation has donated millions of dollars to charities and thousands of volunteer hours.
Schneider believed that good business was good for people.
“Work is about more than making money. It's about building self-esteem, and everybody needs that,” he said in a 1994 interview.
“We all have different talents, and when we put that together as a team, we all become better. No one here should feel intimidated or belittled in any way. Everyone should lift each other up,” he said.
“I don't want to sound pious,” Schneider says, “but it's a rational way of looking at work. It's a realistic way of living life and running a company.”
It was all part of creating a company that, as he likes to say, was “built to last.”
“That was really the core of what he wanted to do,” Lofgren said. “He believed that if we did what we were supposed to do well, we could raise the standard of living.”
“My father wanted the company to continue, provide jobs and serve its customers forever,” he said. “And that's what we're going to do.”
In addition to his wife of 54 years, Pat, he is survived by his daughters Mary De Pree, Therese Koller and Kathleen Zimmerman, sons Thomas and Paul, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister Kathleen, and brothers Paul, James, David and John.
A private funeral service will be held for family and friends. A public memorial gathering will be held in 2-3 weeks. Details will be posted at www.schneider.com..
