Owner-op association hires executive director

TORONTO, (April 26, 2004) – The Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada (OBAC) has named trucking analyst Joanne Ritchie its new executive director.

Ritchie — formerly the trucking industry analyst with Industry Canada — will take over from interim executive director Leo Van Tuyl on May 1st, Today’s Trucking has learned. Van Tuyl says he wishes the group all the best, but is leaving to focus more on trucking.

Ritchie and vice-president Don Robertson say OBAC has “put behind” a series of controversies that have plagued the group since its launch at Truck World 2002.

Soon after the launch, OBAC’s accountant Tony Leckie went missing, along with $50,000 to $80,000 of the association’s money. Earlier this year Leckie turned himself into Oshawa, Ont. police, and was charged with fraud over $5,000. He is currently waiting to enter a plea in court. However, Leckie told a reporter with Today’s Trucking and highwaySTAR magazines that he plans to plead guilty. He said his current legal troubles are a result of a five-year battle with depression.

Last year, former president Dave Marson resigned because of differences of opinion over long-term association strategies.

“Our goals are the same as they were when we started,” Robertson said this weekend at Truck World in Toronto. “The setback just held us up a bit from what we’ve always planned on doing, which is to be the voice of the owner-operator in Canada. Joanne now joins a group of individuals committed to moving forward.”