Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> May 16, 2002
SAMUEL K. SKINNER was elected Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer of USFreightways Corporation on July 17, 2000.
Prior to joining USFreightways, Mr. Skinner was President of the
Commonwealth Edison Company and its holding company Unicom
Corporation, one of the nation's largest electric utilities.
After retiring from Commonwealth Edison Company and Unicom, Mr.
Skinner served as co-Chairman of Hopkins & Sutter, a national law
firm based in Chicago, prior to assuming his current position.
Prior to joining Commonwealth Edison, Mr. Skinner served as Chief
of Staff to President George Bush. Prior to his White House
service, Mr. Skinner served in the President's Cabinet for nearly
three years as Secretary of Transportation. In addition, Mr.
Skinner acted as the President's point person in numerous crisis
situations, including the Eastern Airlines strike, the Exxon
Valdez oil spill, the northern California earthquake, Hurricane
Hugo and the 1991 national rail strike. Washingtonian magazine
twice gave Mr. Skinner its highest ranking for his performance as
Secretary of Transportation and he has also received numerous
awards from the transportation industry. From 1985 to 1989, Mr.
Skinner served as Chairman of the Regional Transportation
Authority, which is the umbrella organization for three operating
entities: the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra (commuter rail)
and Pace (suburban bus line). From 1977 to 1989, Mr. Skinner
practiced law as a senior Litigation and Regulatory Partner in
the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where he served on the
firm's executive committee. From 1968 to 1975, Mr. Skinner served
in the office of the United States Attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois and, in 1975, President Ford appointed Mr.
Skinner United States Attorney. Mr. Skinner held various sales
and management positions with the IBM Corporation from 1960 to
1968. Mr. Skinner graduated from the University of Illinois in
1960 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. He served as a
Lieutenant and a tank platoon leader in the United States Army in
1960-1961 and is an honor graduate of the Army Officers Basic
Course. He graduated from DePaul University Law School in 1966,
where he served on the law review. Profile
Mr. Skinner: USFreightways is primarily in two major businesses.
One is the regional LTL market, where we have five regional
