Bill is the Chairman & CEO of Paladin Capital Inc., an ESOP holding company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Paladin consists of seven operating companies: Quickway, Volunteer Express, Inc., Robert Bearden Inc., Dolphin Line Inc., and Capital City Leasing, Inc., Quickway Logistics, and SNL Distribution Services Corporation.
Bill came to Nashville in 2004. He was hired by Steve George and Roger Blume to be their successor executive at the Quickway family of companies, and in 2005, Bill formed Quickway Distribution Services, Inc., as a 100% Employee-Owned ESOP to purchase the stock of Quickway. Widely recognized as one of the country’s most successful ESOPs, the name was changed in 2016 to Paladin Capital Inc. to reflect the diverse nature of the business portfolio.
As background, Bill is a 1977 graduate of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, with a degree in Economics and Business Administration. A three-year letterman in basketball, Bill was a Dean’s List Student, Vice-President of TKE Fraternity, President of the Inter-Fraternity Council, a member of the President’s Advisory Board, and his senior year selected Who’s Who in American Colleges & Universities. Bill was also selected by the Chairman of the Business Department to be Furman’s first paid intern during his senior year.
Bill’s career in trucking started at the age of 18 on the loading docks of Roadway Express, where he worked nights, weekends, holidays, and during the summers. Upon graduation, Bill joined Roadway as a Management Trainee in Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved progressively up the ranks. In 1982 & 1983, Bill was named Terminal Manager of the Year in Savannah Georgia, and in 1984 was promoted to Atlanta, Georgia, then the 10th largest of Roadway’s 600 terminal locations. In 1986, Bill left Roadway to become President of Transport South Inc., an Atlanta based petroleum carrier, which he ran for 11 years. In 1997, Transport South was sold to Kenan Transport Company, a publicly held company headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Bill joined Kenan as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing and remained in that role until 2001 when Kenan was sold to a private equity group to form the Kenan Advantage Group. After the purchase Bill was elevated to Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Kenan, the last position he held before joining Quickway.
During his career, Bill has bought 20 companies and sold 3. He has broad trucking experience in LTL, tank, truckload, and refrigerated, and has served on the Board of many state and national associations. He has also been a guest speaker/presenter to many conferences, trade associations, and business schools.