CIGI News Coach Industries Group Inc. Appoints New CEO and Vice Chairman
COOPER CITY, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coach Industries Group, Inc. ("Coach Industries") (OTCBB:CIGI), which
offers an array of financial services to commercial fleet operators,
including vehicle financing and specialty insurance products, today
announced the appointment of Robert L. Lefebvre as the new Chief
Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Coach Industries Group, Inc.
effective immediately. Mr. Lefebvre has been the President of
SubContracting Concepts Inc. (SCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coach
Industries, since its inception 10 years ago. SCI has been the best
performing unit in the CIGI family since they were acquired in 2004. The
Coach board recognizes Mr. Lefebvre’s years of
business experience as a very positive asset in the restructuring and
execution of the CIGI business plan. Steven Rothman, which has been
acting as Interim CEO, will remain on as Chairman.
“Bob Lefebvre is just the kind of executive
Coach Industries needs right now to restructure our business units,”
states Rothman. “Since Bob founded SCI ten
years ago, that corporation has never experienced a loss while Bob has
been at the helm. His hands on management style is precisely what we
need right now. Our board recognizes Bob’s
years of business experience as an asset in the restructuring and
execution of our business plan. We are very happy to have Bob accept
this position and we look forward to his input in getting the job done.”
Mr. Lefebvre’s business history is a series of
successful ventures that have had many crossovers into the commercial
fleet operator business models. He began his career in 1958 while
serving a five-year tour of duty in the US Air Force as a systems
analyst. While in the Air Force’s Pacific Air
Command, Mr. Lefebvre was part of a seven member team whose
responsibility was the conversion from punch card accounting systems to
the newly developed computer.
After his discharge in 1963, Mr. Lefebvre spent a number of years as a
systems analyst at the Glens Falls Hospital. In 1970, capitalizing on
changes in Medicare reimbursement policies that provided for direct
reimbursement to hospital based physicians, he founded Regional Data
Center (RDC), a company designed to manage the accounts receivables for
the hospital based physician. RDC grew very quickly to a company
collecting over $400 million per year from 29 offices in New York. Mr.
Lefebvre then merged his company into Advacare, a national accounts
receivable management firm and continued as Vice President until
Advacare went public.
Mr. Lefebvre again became active in business by founding a Professional
Employment Organization called Total Benefit Management (TBM) which he
still maintains an equity position.
“I’m very excited
about the opportunity to make a difference for the employees, clients
and shareholders of Coach Industries. I have always believed in our
business model and I will be empowering my staff to create strategies
that can improve the Coach financial position and facilitate the cross
marketing opportunities we have between the business units,”
states Lefebvre. “The key to any successful
business is the people and I feel very strongly that the people we will
have in place will embrace the opportunity to accomplish our goal for
profitability and growth.”
Bill Lerner, CIGI Board member, states, “Bob
is a hands on, down to earth, logical businessman. His past successes
are very encouraging to all of us involved. We fully support Bob and
will contribute in any way that we can to assist him achieve financial
stability.”
About Coach Industries Group, Inc.
Coach Industries Group, Inc. (OTCBB:CIGI)
("Coach") is a holding company focused on providing financial services
and the manufacturing of luxury limousine and specialty vehicles to
Commercial Fleet Operators.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: The Statements which are not historical facts contained in this
press release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks
and uncertainties including but not limited to risks associated with the
uncertainty of future financial results, additional financing
requirements, development of new products, government approval
processes, the impact of competitive products or pricing, technological
changes, the effect of economic conditions and other uncertainties
detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
