May 2, 2011
A NEW NAME IN FLEET: TLS FLEET MANAGEMENT

Liliane Dubois, is the new CEO of recently rebranded TLS Fleet Management (formally Transportaction Lease Systems Inc.). She brings a fresh view and describes some business practices she believes can cope with and lead the way at this challenging and opportunistic time in the fleet industry’s development.

CAF: As the newly appointed CEO of TLS Fleet Management, you head up a major Canadian fleet management company whose reputation and business has grown steadily for more than 30 years. Your own background and experience in automotive finance, which includes executive responsibilities with Ford Credit and Scotiabank has well prepared you for the continually evolving state of today’s fleet and leasing marketplace. How would you describe the major challenges and opportunities facing not just TLS but generally, the industry now and going forward?

DUBOIS: I think that we are all facing, any industry right now, fierce competition and the pie is only as big as the pie can be, so one of my mandates is to grow the business and grow the market share in a competitive, and I would even say declining volume environment.

With that will have to come innovation on our part and since I have not been here very long I am currently finalizing strategies; however, I know we have to be proactive and listen to our customers and even exceed what they are currently asking of us.

Once thing is for sure, TLS is more structured, stronger than ever and is able to handle much more.

The market has been, from my short experience here, different. The commercial companies are actually keeping the vehicles longer. There was a different economic cycle and the credit crunch definitely had an impact on that so what it created in the short to medium term is that they are not ordering as much and maybe not as much as we would like either so it goes on both sides. We have to go back to our customers and show confidence in the market. We also have to reinforce our brand, because we don’t only offer cars, we offer a full spectrum to the industry and fleet business, including many services, so we have to leverage that to the fullest and represent the brands, our OEMs, in a synergistic manner and make our relationship even stronger with them.

CAF: As you well know, commercial fleet operators are busy with hands-on, day-to-day issues and increasingly, they must be multi-task fleet managers even though many are not full-time fleet managers, they are also doing other things in operations, finance, procurement or HR departments. It’s a very diverse user universe that depends increasingly on organizations like TLS for reliable, consistent service. Against that background how do you see the importance of customer service for you and for TLS?

DUBOIS: For me, customer service has always been top of mind and when you mentioned consistency I think that that is critical that we continue providing the service that we’ve been providing for the last 30 years but now it is also time to exceed the customers’ expectations.

With that, come personal relationships with our people here, fast response and turnaround time. Thus, it is a integral aspect of our business as it is with any business in today’s environment and always has been top of the list with me in any of my previous roles. If you can’t provide the service you can’t retain the business and you can’t acquire the business because your reputation is what builds the future.

CAF: Without giving away any of your strategies, what changes can the industry anticipate now that you are running TLS?

DUBOIS: As you say, maybe it is too early for me to even think of making changes because we are so proud of what we’ve accomplished here in the last 30 years. We have rebranded and that was thought of before I came in but the timing is right, new CEO, new logo.

We want to do it right and continue showing that we are dedicated to the industry, to our current customers and to our future customers. Therefore, that will be re-energizing for the company and for the employees, it is a new era. We will keep maintaining the winning formula and respecting the competitive market and continue our growth.

We will continue to be responsive to our customers needs and of cost-benefit to them with our expertise, knowledge and analysis, that is what we are trying to promote in the marketplace. We are just taking a fresh new look at it and modernizing our logo, showing a stronger and even more capable company.

CAF: Is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself, hobbies?

DUBOIS: I am getting back into exercising because I haven’t done it in a while. I have a family who I am very proud of, a 22-year old daughter and almost 19-year old son.

I commute back on the weekends; my family is close to Ottawa on the Quebec side in Chelsea. I work here during the week and go home and am dedicated to my family on the weekends. It has worked very well, the children have matured well in this and I am very well (happily) married.

My daughter is finishing a degree in bio-medical science at University of Ottawa and will be completing her Masters in Audiology. My son is studying business and trying to follow in his mother’s footsteps.

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