Hugh MacDiarmid has been named president and chief executive of the contract bus operations of Laidlaw International Inc. of Naperville, Ill. MacDiarmid succeeds John Grainger, who left the company at the end of August.
Grainger had been with Laidlaw for 13 years, serving in a number of senior executive positions. From January 2000 until September 2002, he was president and CEO of Laidlaw Inc., the company name before it was changed when Laidlaw emerged from bankruptcy court protection early this summer. Grainger helped shepherd Laidlaw through its reorganization. For most of the past year, he has headed the contract bus operations, Laidlaw's largest division.
MacDiarmid's business background includes six years as the executive vice president/commercial of Canadian Pacific Railways and eight years as a principal of McKinsey & Company, the noted management consulting company.
"I am delighted to welcome Hugh to the Laidlaw group," said Laidlaw President and CEO Kevin Benson. "His background in the transportation industry, combined with his analytical experience gained in his consulting days, is exactly what Laidlaw needs as we reemphasize our core competencies as an engine for future growth."
InterMotive Products, an Auburn, Calif.-based company specializing in the design and manufacture of technologically advanced after-market components for small and midsize buses and shuttles, has named a former Ford Motor Company executive to be national sales and marketing manager.
Marc Ellison spent 17 years at Ford, holding key marketing and sales management positions, as well as field positions in the company's customer service division. Most recently, he was manager of Remanufactured Transmission Products. At InterMotive, he will head up all sales and marketing.
Ellison has a business administration degree from the University of Kansas and is a certified 6-Sigma Black Belt.
Del Lisk has been appointed vice president of fleet safety services and Greg Fisch has been named director of engineering at DriveCam Video Systems in San Diego.
For the past 21 years, Lisk has been with Smith System Driver Improvement, the fleet driver training company, serving as president for nearly six years. He developed many fleet safety programs and helped train more than 10,000 fleet drivers. In his new job he will oversee implementation and training for DriveCam's fleet customers.
Fisch has more than 20 years of management and development experience at such organizations as Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Odetics and Disney. He has a degree in electronic engineering and physics from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. He will head DriveCam's R&D efforts in fleet safety technology.
Nicole Nason has been named assistant secretary for governmental affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation. She joins DOT from the U.S. Customs Service, where she was assistant commissioner of the Office of Congressional Affairs. She also previously served as counsel for the House Judiciary Committee.
Robert Fabricant, general counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, left the department during the first week of this month. Fabricant managed 300 EPA attorneys at its Washington headquarters and 10 regional offices. Fabricant was brought to the EPA by recently departed Administrator Christie Todd Whitman, for whom he worked as chief counsel when she was governor of New Jersey.