FIRST STUDENT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Marketing & Communications
Claire Miller - Chief Commercial Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Commercial Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Claire brought more than 25 years of leadership experience across diverse operating environments that included consumer product goods (CPG), business-to-business, technical software and the U.S. Military when she joined First Student in March 2017.
Prior to her time at First Student, she served as Vice President and General Manager - Consumer Tabletop at Newell Brands, a $270 million business.
"At First Student, you are working with a name you know and trust. We don't take that trust for granted. As the preeminent transportation provider in North America, First Student invests heavily in driver training, safety and technology to deliver a ride that's twice as safe as the industry average."
Prior to Newell, Claire held a number of senior leadership roles in organizations that include Honeywell Corporation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, The Procter and Gamble Company, and the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Vice President of Safety and Security
Most recently, Darryl served in a leadership role at Abbott Laboratories, as Corporate Director, Global Environmental, Health and Safety Governance and Product Stewardship. In this role, he led global policy setting, standard development, auditing and compliance assurance, for the company's Environmental, Health and Safety programs. Prior to Abbott, Darryl held leadership positions at Johnson Controls, including Vice President, Global Health and Safety. He also served in leadership roles at ABB, Inc. where he was Vice President, Safety and Health.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
joined First Student in 2000. He is responsible for the overall day-to-day business results, with a focus on bolstering operational discipline and compliance down to the location level. Reporting to Dean are the Regional operations leaders, as well as the New Business Integration team, the Performance Assurance team and the Operational Support team.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Vice President of Risk Management
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
Joe Schwaderer joined First Student as the Chief Financial Officer in 2022. He oversees financial activities and performance, including financial planning and analysis, treasury, tax, audit, accounting, purchasing, investor relations and capital management.
With more than 20 years of experience, he is a seasoned finance and senior business executive with a proven track record of driving margin growth and leading high-performance finance teams.
Prior to First Student, Joe was the Chief Financial Officer, Americas at ISS A/S, a facility management company that provided placemaking solutions to contribute to better business performance making life easier, more productive and enjoyable. Prior to ISS, Joe held several senior leadership positions at both public and private companies.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- President
Chief Executive Officer and President John Kenning joined First Student in February 2022, bringing with him a wealth of experience managing fleet-based businesses and distributed workforces.
As leader of First Student, John continues to drive high standards and innovation, while overseeing the safe operation of more than 40,000 yellow school buses and a dedicated team of 50,500 employees across North America.
John's career includes more than three decades of leadership experience and includes a proven track record of leading technological innovation, commercial excellence, and operational rigor to provide best-in-class services to customers. He joined First Student from G4S, a leading security services and technology provider, where he served as Regional Chief Executive Officer of Americas. Prior to G4S, John held senior management roles within several large companies, including president of commercial business at OfficeMax and president of North America commercial for ADT/Tyco International.
He holds a bachelor's degree in business from Miami University, where he now serves as a member of the Advisory Athletic Board.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Head of Electrification
Kevin L. Matthews is the Head of Electrification at First Student and is responsible for the strategy that will drive the development and deployment of all electrification initiatives and technologies. First Student is the largest operator of school buses in North America with over44,000 units in its fleet. Further, First Student is largest operator of electric school buses with over 198 deployed and carrying students with several hundred more on order.
Kevin has worked in the environment sector for more than 30 years. He has served as the managing director of the sustainability sector at National Strategies, LLC, as well as served as the co-project director of the Clinton Global Initiative EV School Bus project, that demonstrated Total Cost of Ownership of electric units could reach parity with fossil fuel school buses.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Member of the Leadership Team
Michael Petrucci joined First Student in 2001 and leverages over 23 years of experience as a trusted and strategic leader in his role as General Counsel. As General Counsel, he regularly steers the company through complex commercial, regulatory and transactional matters. Over his 23-year tenure with First Student, Michael has guided First Student through an array of transactions that have built First Student into the leading school bus transportation provider in North America. In his role, he also serves as First Student's chief compliance officer and provides further guidance to First Student's risk, insurance and labor functions.
Prior to joining First Student, Michael served as a litigation associate at a large mid-west law firm and began his career as an attorney with the United States Department of Labor.
Michael earned his law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law and has a BA in Economics from Providence College. He is admitted to practice law in Ohio and Massachusetts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chief Information Officer ( CIO ) in January 2022. He Is Responsible for the Company 's Digital Strategy, Capabilities, Technical Operations and Innovations
Sean McCormack joined First Student as Chief Information Officer (CIO) in January 2022. He is responsible for the company's digital strategy, capabilities, technical operations and innovations.
Sean most recently served as Vice President of Engineering at W.W. Grainger, where he managed all digital capabilities and system operations across the globe. This included running the 10th largest eCommerce site in North America, with $7B in digital revenue. Prior to Grainger, Sean served as the Chief Technology Officer & Head of Digital at Harley-Davidson, where he built their Connected Vehicle capability, launched a new Ride planner/Navigator and 5-star mobile app, and established an industry-leading innovation program with offices in Silicon Valley. He has also served as Chief Architect for ManpowerGroup, overseeing technology strategy for 80 countries and $22B in revenue. Sean and his teams have received the CIO Top 100 Award, InformationWeek's Top 50 in Innovation, and he's the personal recipient of the Business Transformation 150 and Microsoft MVP Awards. He began his career in the armed forces, serving 8 years in military intelligence.
Sean holds an Executive MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a bachelors from the University of Texas at Austin.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Vice President of Maintenance