By Tod Trousdell, Fleet Marketing Consultant
February 26, 2025
This week’s fleet professional profile features Peter Young, VP of Business Development at Ranger Design, who is fresh off his recent turn as Chair of the Organizing Committee of the third ever AFLA Canada Summit. Peter shares both his thoughtful insight into the world of fleet, as well as his very exciting life away from the office. Here’s what we learned:
What does your role entail?
Business growth strategy and execution.
Peter Young at the AFLA Canada Summit
Are you a member of any professional associations, and if so, which ones and what roles?
AFLA – just completed 2-year board role as Director of Strategy; Chaired the 3rd AFLA Canada Summit February 2025. Member of NAFA and NTEA.
What do you love most about fleet?
I’d say without a doubt that the fact there’s never a dull moment! This is a very challenging industry, and it takes significant time and attention to become immersed. And for me personally, I enjoy having the opportunity to provide better solutions for clients so that they can contribute to their own company’s success – that really motivates me and gets me excited.
You were Director of Strategy for AFLA so you think about these things. What do you think are the most important themes for fleet as we head into the teeth of 2025?
ROI [Return on Investment]. It’s now and will continue to be a top concern for fleet professionals. And even if fleets operate mainly in North America and Europe, we live in a global economy and that affects people at the local level. Because of that, we’re seeing costs go up for just about every kind of fleet no matter whether it’s a big corporate fleet or a small local business. Everyone is looking to maximize ROI but that will be hard to achieve for the next 12 to 24 months, or at least until efficiencies return in the supply chain. Let’s just say, creativity will be required and that a collaborative approach between Fleets, OEMs FMCs, and suppliers who can help fleet professionals figure this out will have a leg up.
Fleet professionals will also need to understand the benefits – as well as the risks – of Artificial Intelligence as enterprises implement generative AI at what will likely be a rapid pace. There are certainly efficiencies for fleets to delivers more information to employees in real time such as training, policy implementation, and accountability, to name a few, which should contribute to reducing risks and costs while improving safety.
Finally, I think it will take foresight, time, and effort to rebalance EV initiatives. But I do think the initiatives will proceed as OEM technology is improving, governments continue to work on infrastructure, and the EV ecosystem provides more efficient alternatives. Enterprise ESG goals will likely be the “guiding light” as fleet professionals try to figure out the best way forward.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing fleet?
The accelerated speed of changes that fleet professionals need to adapt to; the time it takes to harness and implement technology to extract its benefits to improve performance; cybersecurity as vehicle technology increases.
What excites you most about fleet?
The opportunity to work in such a dynamic and ever-changing industry with unlimited opportunities to improve the customer experience – what’s not to love about that?
How and where did you get started in fleet?
I joined the industry 8 years ago with Ranger Design, a significant supplier of equipment for the commercial van market across North America.
Who helped you most advance in fleet? Was there a mentor?
There were many. When I first got started, I met many industry colleagues – local and regional fleets, ship-thru upfitters, FMCs, and fleet clients. So many of those people have helped me along the way and that process taught me something very important about this business that I think most of us come to understand at some point. And that is that fleet is all about building relationships – perhaps more than any I’ve ever experienced. And AFLA accelerated my learning and contributed to my success. So, while it may sound cliché, being curious and meeting as many people as possible contributed to my education more than anything.
Tell us about your philosophy on life/work balance and what you like to do outside of fleet?
In a nutshell – work hard, play hard. I practice downhill skiing approximately 40 days a year. And I’ve recently started a new sport called touring, which is climbing up a mountain on skis. In summer, cycling – both road and off road. Travelling – I’m working on getting to 60 different countries and making great progress!
About the author
Tod Trousdell is a fleet marketing consultant and the co-owner of RobertsTrousdell Marketing, a boutique Atlanta-based firm for over 20 years that specializes in fleet, hospitality, sports, and cable. He can be reached at [email protected].
