TORONTO, Ont. –The 46th Canadian Fleet Maintenance Seminars (CFMS) wrapped up May 28 with a luncheon and award ceremony sponsored by Volvo Canada. Volvo announced its 2009 Canadian Fleet Maintenance Manager is Ben Vandespyker of Active Transport.

To qualify for the award, the nominee’s fleet must be located in Canada, must own and operate a minimum of 25 Class 8 vehicles, and must perform a minimum 80% of repairs and maintenance at the fleet’s facilities.

The nominee must be a Canadian resident with a minimum of five years’ fleet maintenance experience, three of which must be as a full-time maintenance manager, superintendent, or director. They must also be currently responsible for complete fleet maintenance and repair activity.

Vandespyker, a long-time member of the Automotive Transportation Service Superintendents’ Association, has been in fleet maintenance for over 50 years, and currently oversees a fleet of 175 tractors and over 400 trailers across three maintenance facilities at Active Transport.

He is described as a “caring, generous, reliable, fair mediator with a good ability to listen,” said Don Coldwell, district service manager with Volvo Trucks Canada, who presented the award. Vandespyker, a father of two children, was called out of the country unexpectedly at the time of the award ceremony.

His daughter Lisa accepted the award on his behalf. Next month’s issue of Truck West will contain a feature on Vandespyker and a look at some of his best practices.