Clarence L. Werner
Co-founder 1956Background
Clarence L. 'C.L.' Werner bought his first truck in 1956 and became the company's own first driver, building Werner Enterprises from a single-truck operation in Omaha, Nebraska, into a major national trucking and logistics company over more than six decades. By the time he stepped down as CEO in May 2016, handing the role to longtime executive Derek Leathers, Werner Enterprises had grown into a company with over $3 billion in annual revenue and more than 14,000 employees and contractors. Werner later stepped down as executive chairman as well, formally ending his day-to-day involvement after 64 years with the company he founded. Werner initially hauled produce and other perishable freight regionally before expanding into long-haul trucking across the American Midwest, and he was known for personally driving routes himself well after the company had grown large enough that he no longer needed to, a hands-on operating style that shaped Werner Enterprises' driver-focused corporate culture for decades. By the time C.L. Werner stepped back from daily operations, the company he started with a single truck had grown into one of the largest truckload carriers in the United States, and his emphasis on driver safety records and equipment maintenance discipline became embedded in Werner Enterprises' operating culture long after his own retirement. Werner's insistence on owning rather than leasing much of the company's tractor and trailer fleet in its early decades reflected a conservative balance-sheet philosophy that persisted at the company for years after it became a large, publicly traded carrier, distinguishing it from truckload competitors that relied more heavily on leased equipment and asset-light operating models.