In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Schneider as the 117th wealthiest person on its list of 400 richest individuals, with a net worth in excess of $3 billion.īut one would never realize that from a casual meeting with Schneider. An MBA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Schneider parlayed his vision and operations wisdom into personal fortune. “The transportation and logistics industry has lost one of its most passionate and influential voices.”Īn extremely low-key individual, Schneider’s modest and shy exterior belied his extremely high intelligence and foresight. “Don Schneider was a visionary, bringing business acumen and technology to blaze a trail and set the standard in the modern day development of our industry,” American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement. Hunt, Swift, Werner Enterprises and hundreds of other now-landmark operations in what is now the $300 billion truckload sector. Unencumbered by government rate regulation, Schneider anticipated the rise in low-cost, non-union operations such as his own company, J.B. He predicted that shippers would demand more and better services such as Just-in-Time inventory replenishment and time-definite services. Hunt, Swift Transportation’s Jerry Moyes and perhaps a handful of others, Schneider accurately foresaw changes and shaped the way the industry would perform for decades following deregulation. Trucking industry and company colleagues say it was nearly impossible to overstate Schneider’s importance to the industry in its post-deregulated era following the Motor Carrier Act of 1980.Īlong with J.B. 13 in De Pere, Wis., following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Don” Schneider, a trucking industry visionary and chairman emeritus and former president and CEO of truckload giant Schneider National, died Jan.

Schneider trucking