After spending over 25 years as the president and majority shareholder at CoachCrafters, Inc., founder Wayne Wolf has sold stock shares to two key employees as the first step in a long-term succession plan. The sale of stock releases Wolf as the majority shareholder. The majority shares of stock in the corporation are now women controlled.
"I have no plans for immediate retirement," stated Wolf, "However I've been doing this for over a quarter of a century, it's time to take a step back from the front line. I began to look at the people who were managing the various aspects of the company, and realized that their contributions were key to our long term success."
Wolf offered to sell some of his shares of stock to Jackie Guerra, vice president of administration and Anne Ryan, vice president of sales and marketing. Between them they have over nine years of tenure with the company. Both were appointed to the board of directors in 2010.
Wolf will continue as chief operating officer, working with the operations and technical support staff. He has turned his previous responsibilities in finance and sales over Guerra and Ryan.
"When I was first approached about purchasing an equity stake in the company, I responded that I needed time to consider it. It's a huge decision, and I wanted to be sure that I was making the right choice, both for the company and myself," said Ryan. "The more I reflected, the more I realized that it was a terrific opportunity to cement my future with a growing organization full of talented people in an industry that I enjoy." She continues, "I'm thrilled to be part of the leadership team that will guide this company towards being the dominant player in the bus rebuilding and repowering industry."
Anne Wolf has stepped into the role of chief executive officer and will set strategy and vision for the company as well as managing high value contract negotiations and capital allocation. "We haven't really looked at resetting some of our corporate goals and strategies for a number of years. Times have changed and I'm currently looking at our current company culture and what we can do on an executive level to make subtle yet transparent changes that will have a positive impact on our labor force and customers."
"It's really exciting to be one of the women that control this company. As far as I know, we're the only women owned bus rebuilding and repowering companies in the United States, probably the world. I'm confident that we're up to the challenge, " states Guerra. "We're looking forward to partnering with other women owned companies as suppliers and to setting new standards in what has historically been a male dominated industry."
CoachCrafters has begun the DBE certification process, and hopes to be fully certified as a Women Owned Business Enterprise in all eastern states by the end of the summer, and throughout the country by the end of 2011.
