Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/571138
26 CVSN President's Award (Commercial Carrier Journal, now a sister magazine to Truck Parts & Service.) and the trucking media had a blind spot in their coverage focus. So Moss did what any young, moti- vated and ambitious entrepreneur would do — he decided to produce a publica- tion to fi ll it all on his own. He'd publish his fi rst issue of Fleet Distribution in 1958. The publication would morph into Heavy Duty Distribu- tion a few years later before fi nally set- tling on Truck Parts & Service in 1966. Nearly 60 years later, the market Moss discovered remains. And it has decided to give back. As a thank you for his efforts found- ing Truck Parts & Service, helping to cre- ate the Council of Fleet Specialists (CFS) and Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week, and his decades of service in support of the independent aftermarket industry, Jim Moss has earned the 2015 President's Award by the Commercial Vehicle Solu- tions Network (CVSN). The award presentation was held ear- lier this month at the CVSN Aftermarket Distribution Summit in Newport, R.I. Now retired and living in Hawaii, Moss was unable to attend this month's Summit, but he says he's incredibly grateful to be presented such a presti- gious award. "I'm obviously very honored. I'm honored that people even remember my name," he says. "Recognizing me is to recognize that this industry has a past, and that there are a lot of people that helped it become what it is now." Looking back, Moss says his decision to found the publication that would be- come Truck Parts & Service was a logical one. The aftermarket was a growing sub- section of the trucking industry; one that demanded recognition and organization. Through Truck Parts & Service and other efforts, Moss was able to provide that. "My position was these people were different and had different needs and skills than fl eets," he says. "They were a group of people who were willing to become part of something." Moss says that became abundantly clear around 1960 when he and a group of aftermarket professionals developed the Council of Fleet Specialists. A pre- cursor to CVSN, CFS helped unify the independent aftermarket. Moss says that union would immediately prove valuable in support of an industry that boomed in response to the Federal Highway Act. In the decades that followed Moss remained committed to the heavy-duty aftermarket. He added Successful Dealer to his publishing company's roster in 1978, and expanded the focus of Truck Parts & Service to include heavy-duty repair in the 1980s. He also was one of the early supporters and proponents of 'Truck Parts Week,' which eventually became industry jewel HDAW. "Over the years you get to know a variety of people and personalities; some work to earn a paycheck while others work because it's a passion. I always respected Jim because the industry was his passion and he devoted his life to it," says Joe Mejaly, vice president and general manager at AxleTech. "People use the phrase, 'This industry is in my blood,' and for Jim you never had to question his sincerity when he uttered those words." "[Jim] was truly committed to our industry," adds Pete Joy, vice president of sales and marketing at Phillips Indus- tries. "Jim was not only instrumental in reporting the growth and development of the heavy-duty aftermarket, he was in his own way a leader of the process. Jim was one of the mentors that many of us relied on for judgment and input as we addressed the major issues of the day." Moss shrugs off the compliments, humbly downplaying his impressive aftermarket career. "We did some things, and I guess they turned out pretty good," he says. T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5 Jim was not only instrumental in reporting the growth and development of the heavy-duty aftermarket, he was in his own way a leader of the process. – Pete Joy, vice president of sales and marketing at Phillips Industries Moss was instrumental in creating the Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year award. He presented the inaugural award to Dave Scheer of Inland Truck Parts in 2002.