H. Kevin Mest Email & Phone Number

Edmonds, Wa, Us

Shoreline, Washington, Us

Vancouver, Washington, Us

Consulting services specializing in outsource solutions in transportation services (i.e, student transportation/school bus service, public transit services, non-emergency care transport, shuttle systems, public charter).Consult with providers on new contract growth strategy/business development and assess current contract operational/financial performance and/or consult with contracting municipalities/school districts/ public agencies or corporate entities with RFP development/issuance/evaluation/award and post-award provider management.Consult on value added technology solutions for the school bus industry that improve safety and compliance as well as driving financial performance.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Zonar is the leading provider of comprehensive telematics and fleet management solutions across the passenger services industry. Founded in 2001 and growing steadily since, Zonar powers GPS tracking and fleet management solutions on over 500,000 vehicles across the U.S. and Canada. Zonar enabled fleets travel more safely and efficiently—for millions of miles.

North America Central School Bus (NACSB) commonly known as Illinois Central School Bus was a Carlyle Group portfolio company. NACSB is the industry's 4th largest provider of contracted student transportation services in the US. NACSB is a customer focused community based provider that delivers "Safety First, Quality Always".Collaborative executive leader (who also served as interim CEO) of fourth largest contracted student transportation provider in the industry with over 4,000 employees and 3,200 vehicles in 60 locations in eight states; responsible for strategic direction, enterprise-wide financial performance, operating standards/KPIs and exceeding customer’s expectations.

Shuttle Smart operates as Event Transportation (ETA) and Destination Shuttle Services (DSS).www.ShuttleSmart.netETA is an innovative market leader in providing cost-effective solutions and opearions for transportation management and planning services for complex transportation programs for major sporting events, the Olympics, conventions and fortune 500 Corporations using motor-coaches.www.eventtransportation.comDSS creates smart transportation solutions using intelligent routing/dispatching applications to design, manage and operate demand responsive and consolidated fixed route shuttles for airports, hotel groups, the hospitality industry, municipal or port parking lots and airline crews with measurable cost savings and sustainable environmental results using CNG and propane powered fleet.www.DSS-LAX.comDeveloped strategic plan and marketing tactics to achieve profitable revenue growth. Built marketing plan with new branding/logo identity, new web-site design, introduced CRM process, sales pipeline tools, and prospecting search resources. Created proposals and presentations.

FirstGroup (formerly Laidlaw Transit, Inc.), Seattle WA - 24 years total work experience with the same organization with progressive leadership responsibilities.FirstGroup (publically traded on LSE), is the world's leading transportation operator with annualized revenues of over $10 billion, including Greyhound Bus Lines. The First Student division is the market leader in providing a managed contract solution, with over 60,000 school buses in 600 locations to school districts for student transportation services with $3 billion in annual revenue.FirstGroup acquired Laidlaw in October 2007.As the Regional Vice-President, effectively provided daily leadership and strategic vision in operations and business development to the company's $165 million NW Region (56 P&L centers/bus terminals in AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, CO, and UT with 12 direct reports in multiple functions, 4,000 employees and 3,500 vehicles) during a period of tremendous growth and change in consolidating a fragmented contracted school bus and transit service industry into a national brand identity with scale to leverage cost saving synergies.Significant Accomplishments: * Aggressively secured customer contract retention rates of over 95% in low bid markets with value propositions and creative proposals (RFP's) * Initiated the first dedicated public charter operation piloting the use of school buses, achieving profitable first year revenues of $2.5 million and doubling revenues to over $5 million in five years. * Chaired the development and implementation of a high visibility enterprise-wide fleet Fuel Economy program, saving $1 million in fuel costs in the first six months on a fleet of 40,000 vehicles. * Designed and instituted enriching employee recognition and incentive programs to significantly decrease employee turnover and improve retention by 15% over a four year period in a challenging labor intensive service industry while meeting stringent safety sensitive hiring standards.

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Highly accomplished senior manager responsible for $100 million NW Area serving school districts and public transit agencies. Led Contract Managers and their business units in multi-location, multi-state area to set goals and achieve outstanding results. Start-ups, integrations, profit performance, value-added customer service, safety, key performance indicator metrics, fleet management, employee relations, labor negotiations and property management.Significant Accomplishments:* Transformed the region safety culture with a comprehensive plan that achieved an accident frequency rate reduction of 40% over a three year period.* Penetrated markets by tactically identifying and negotiating five business acquisitions, including all due diligence work and organization integration.* Expanded market with significant profitable transportation charter contracts for major civic and sporting events, including the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, earning a prestigious US military Joint Task Force Certificate of Achievement for Exceptional Meritorious Achievement.

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Skillfully served as the "chief financial officer" for the Region in a challenging and complex role supporting all field operations, corporate finance and managing the accounting processing center for the western region. Accountable for all financial support; budgets, forecasts, financial strategy, bid models and proposal costing/pricing, capital budgets, variance analysis, asset utilization. Excellent audit compliance with policy and procedure.Significant Accomplishments:* Developed the first robust financial model to prepare contract pricing from detailed cost assumptions to pro-forma financials with ROI and sensitivity analysis, which became the basis of the company-wide model.* Won the President's Award in 1993 for outstanding strategic plan completed as a six-month-long company wide initiative.* Successfully led the company through the highly selective qualification process to convert from the state of WA worker's compensation statutory fund to the state self-insured program with annual cost savings of $250,000.

Responsible for financial reporting for NYSE publicly traded company that built Navy and Coast Guard ships.Supported all external reporting (SEC), Annual Reports and internal profit performance for senior management. Supervised payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable groups. Coordinated financial reporting with cost accounting group responsible for government contracts.

City University was one of the first in the nation to address the needs of working adults. City University awards degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level in dozens of academic fields.Taught, mentored and coached adult working students in financial and cost accounting courses.

A global consulting firm and one of the "Big Four" auditors, with 165,000 employees and $26 billion in revenue.Seattle practice audit department serving a wide range of clients; from Fortune 500 publicly traded corporations (i.e. Safeco), to non-profits and family owned businesses. Held auditor in-charge duties responsible for audit team. Industries served included contracted services (uniforms), professional services, financial institutions (banking and insurance), non-profits, lumber and other service industries.

Bachelor Of Accounting, Accounting, Minor In Economics

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Business Administration, Accounting Concentration

Cpa

Education record