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Wheels Inc.

Company: Wheels, Inc., DesPlaines, IL
Company Description: Wheels,Inc.is a leader in the multi-billion-dollar fleet-leasing industry and provides a full range of specialized services to help corporations manage their vehicle fleets. Wheels has 550 employees and manages more than 240,000 vehicles. Its holding company, Frank Consolidated Enterprises, currently ranks as one of the largest private companies in the U.S., with nearly $2 billion in annual sales.
Nomination Category: Company, Office & Product Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Overall Company

Nomination Title: Wheels, Inc. Company Nomination

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Wheels, Inc., in DesPlaines, Ill., is a leader in the multi-billion dollar fleet leasing industry.  The company was founded in 1939 by Zollie Frank, father of current CEO and President Jim Frank, and the man who actually invented the concept of fleet leasing. Wheels’ corporate philosophy is based on delivering top-tier customer service, satisfaction and success. Complementing this philosophy is the flexibility that is only possible to achieve in a privately held company that isn’t bound by public shareholder and financial analyst expectations on a quarterly basis. As a result, Wheels has consistently demonstrated fast response to customer needs with new products and services as well as the ability to leverage technology to enable business innovation.

Results of the commitment to excellence are evident.  Wheels is the cornerstone of Frank Consolidated Enterprises, which consistently appears in the rankings of Largest Privately Held Companies by such publications as Forbes and Crain’s Chicago Business.  Revenues for 2005 were more than $1.78 billion, reflecting 15 percent growth over 2004.

Wheels’ success can also be judged by the fact that the first client signed by the company, now known as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, is still a client today and that multiple customers have been working with Wheels for more than 60 years. Wheels’ customer base includes such recognizable names as Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Bayer, Siemens, Bristol Myers Squibb, Tyco and other major US and global corporations.

Proof of Wheels’ commitment to customer satisfaction is provided annually by the customers themselves via a formal survey designed to get feedback on how well the company understands and responds to customer needs. The goal is to get a rating higher than 4.5 on a five-point scale. In 2005, Wheels met that goal as it has consistently for years due to an ongoing program focused on delivering measurable customer success.

Other major accomplishments throughout 2005 include:

* Rolling out an award-winning technology platform called Fleet.net, that assists Wheels’ European company, Fleet Logistics, in managing a unified European currency and the unique business practices of more than 25 target European Union countries and supporting service provision to global customers with effective management of European fleet costs. The success of Fleet.net has been highlighted with awards in major technology media including InformationWeek, Infoworld and Computerworld. * Exceeding $10 million in Vehicle Sales through an Internet resale program that eliminates the administrative burden of used vehicle remarketing for Wheels clients by fully automating the ordering process.* Partnering with Just Tires outlets to provide the fleet management industry’s  first program that provides tire installation at the vehicle location rather than requiring drivers to  bring vehicles to a tire installation outlet* Generating a 26 percent revenue increase in European markets by using an integrated local vehicle sourcing strategy rather than the centralized single sourcing process used by competitors in Europe* Named as one of the Best and Brightest Chicago Companies to work for by the National Association for Business Resources* Named to the InformationWeek 500 for the fifth consecutive year

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?
portal_id=25&mpid=25&page_id=1966

http://www.infoworld.com/about/abt_prs_rel_11142005.html
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/
story/0,10801,109257,00.html?from=story_package

http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/
story/0,10801,106902,00.html

http://www.informationweek.com/iw500/2005/viewList/?sortby=
Company&qNum=10

http://www.wheels.com/about/press/html/press062705.htm

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Jim Frank, Wheels, Inc. President and CEO, began his career at the company in 1967 with a focus on leveraging technology to enable corporate growth, improve customer service and create innovative new products. Today, Wheels is recognized industry-wide for outstanding use of information technology and Jim Frank is known for his vision and commitment to customer success. Under his leadership, Wheels’ fleet has grown from 30,000 vehicles to more than 240,000. Jim Frank is a leading expert on International Accounting Standards and their potential impact on the U.S. fleet industry and is called upon regularly to speak at national conferences.