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Mike Antich

Former Editor and Associate Publisher

Mike Antich has been covering the fleet management and vehicle remarketing markets for more than 20 years. During this period, Mike has written or edited more than 5,000 articles on the subjects of fleet management, manufacturer fleet activities, the fleet leasing industry, and vehicle remarketing.

Currently, Mike is the editor and associate publisher for three fleet-related magazines: Automotive Fleet,  Fleet Financials, and Work Truck magazines. Mike is also the USA editor for Fleet Europe, a pan-European fleet management magazine headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

His non-publication responsibilities include being the conference chairman for the annual Conference of Automotive Remarketing (CAR), the Global Fleet Conference, and Fleet Safety Conference

Mike is actively involved with a variety of fleet and remarketing industry associations. He is a long-time member of the board of directors for the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA). He served as AFLA's president from 2008-2009. He is currently the chairman of the AFLA Globalization Committee where he was instrumental in creating the first-ever Global Fleet Networking Consortium comprised of five internatlonal fleet associations.

He is also a member of the board of directors and an officer for the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA). He is Alliance's long-time secretary and chairs its public relations committee. In addition, he was the past chairman of the IARA certification task force, which developed the industry's first-ever certification program for vehicle remarketers. 

In 2010, Mike was inducted into the Fleet Hall of Fame.

Mike is an international speaker and has spoken at numerous industry conferences, client advisory councils, and fleet sales meetings.

Newsby Mike AntichFebruary 11, 2013

Thomson to Retire from City of Salem, Ore.

Don Thomson, CAFM, will retire from the City of Salem, Ore., March 31. He is the City’s fleet/warehouse superintendent and is responsible for providing and maintaining all fleet equipment used by City departments.

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What is the Future of Public Sector Fleet Managers?

The implementation of chargeback systems started the evolution toward professional fleet managers. No longer was the best mechanic the automatic choice to be fleet manager. The trend toward privatization was another catalyst that accelerated the evolution of the fleet function because fleet managers realized that to survive, they needed knowledge and skills beyond vehicle maintenance. These, along with other catalysts, are causing the fleet management function to morph in a new direction.

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Proactive vs. Reactive Fleet Management

In today’s fiscal environment, fleet management can be more aptly described as a form of “crisis management.” More often than not, fleet decisions are driven by senior management’s knee-jerk reactions or by the never-ending need to put out fires. In this reality, it is easy to slip into a reactive fleet management style, managing the fleet from a tactical level, addressing day-to-day crisises with a knee-jerk management approach. However, in today’s environment, you can’t afford to be reactive.

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Is It Time to Create an Energy Manager Position?

Most OEMs believe it will require the use of a diversity of fuels to meet the 2016 and 2025 CAFE requirements. As a result, OEMs will need to develop a broader portfolio of vehicles, powered by a diversity of fuels. Will this fuel diversity necessitate the creation of an energy professional position? The State of Colorado thinks so.. My prediction is that in the near future, additional political subdivisions will follow the lead of the State of Colorado.

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Root Cause Analysis of Fleet’s Friction With User Departments

A best-in-class fleet operation has excellent interdepartmental relationships. However, this is getting harder to achieve in today’s fiscally constrained environment. Even in the best of times, interdepartmental friction is an unfortunate fact of life, but as a professional fleet manager, your job is to minimize it. Today, every department is looking to stretch scarce budget dollars, and this sometimes occurs at the expense of other departments with whom they interact.

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Are You an Administrator Or a Manager?

The greatest challenge facing the future of public-sector fleet management is how we define ourselves as a profession. Are we administrators of a fleet or are we managers? Do we manage our fleet from a tactical level, putting out the day-to-day fires – or a strategic level, focusing on achieving specific long-term objectives? In the future, I believe a strategic focus will be crucial to succeed in public-sector fleet management; otherwise, you will run the risk of being relegated to mediocrity.

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Thank God for Hard Times

Hard times present the opportunity (or necessity) to make needed changes in fleet management that would otherwise have never occurred during good times. Too often, change is difficult to implement in the government sector as the status quo reigns supreme. However, in an environment of dwindling resources and shrinking budgets, the “status quo model” no longer works. Business as usual is a recipe for disaster.

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The Impending Retirement Tsunami & Resulting Brain Drain

The demographics of public sector fleet operations are skewing increasingly to an aging workforce. A key reason is the large number of baby boomers eligible to retire now and into the next decade. Studies have documented the implications to various industries, but there has been little discussion about the ramifications to fleet management. Not only will there be a “retirement tsunami” in fleet, but there will be an even more crippling “brain drain” of lost institutional and legacy knowledge.

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Think You Run a Cost-Effective Fleet Operation? Prove It

You may think you manage a well-run fleet, but how do you really know unless you have objective data to prove it? When you know your "numbers," you substantially increase the likelihood of successfully presenting the fleet position to the user departments, policy makers, and politicians. In addition, metrics help educate user departments having a financially adverse impact on fleet operations, and bring these inefficient practices to the attention of management in a non-accusatory format.

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Not Covered by FMCSA Regs? Think Again

Many government fleet managers will say they are exempt from Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) regulations governing truck weight limits and other safety regulations. This is definitely true for emergency vehicles, snow and ice control equipment, or other public safety applications. However, government fleets are not exempt from operating a safe vehicle as defined by FMCSA regs.

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