Sneaky bifurcation at TransCore - splitting secretly in two, well not really

TransCore the leading US toll systems supplier has been quietly dividing itself in two. Without any announcement they seem to have bifurcated. That's the talk in the industry.

John Worthington longtime president and CEO of the company is now President - Commercial Technology Group. And John Simler previously chief operating officer is now President - ITS Group. You have to go into the bios on their website under Executive Management Team to get official confirmation, but it's all there.

No announcement was ever made. (But you get the inside scoops here.)

John Simler who operates out of a Boca Raton FL office is now the boss in all matters concerning "core toll collection, ITS and transaction processing."

Does that leave John Worthington in Hummelstown PA with "non-core toll collection." Cash? Bridges?

No, all toll collection is still the core business. Worthington is concentrating on TransCore's burgeoning non-toll business including freight matching, trailer tracking intermodal, homeland security and so forth.

It is NOT a prelude to splitting the company in two, the spokesman says: "No we haven't split in two. We're still TransCore, one company. Really nothing has changed here. This is a non-event."

Going from dictator Stalin to the co-dictators Malenkov and Bulganin a non-event?

Old news, we're told.

TransCore's co-presidency happened June 1.

The major departments of TransCore were unaffected. David Sparks remains on tolls and ITS, George McGraw manufacturing, Kelly Gravelle R&D, etc. Simler's domain of tolls, ITS and transactions used to be known as government services and the rest was commercial.

But they've given it a new title because tolling and transactions are no longer just government and all the areas have overlap. For example a GPS unit attached to a contain to help track it and report intrusion may be used by both the shipper and security personnel. The system will have to satisfy both government and business operators.

We googled "co presidents" to see who else has gone to a co-presidency: Merrill Lynch, Gay News, Notre Dame undergraduate clubs, MIT, Wharton Private Equity Partners, Oracle, Covance and lots more.

OK it's commonplace.

Both John Worthington and John Simler report to the president of Roper Industries which owns TransCore.

OK it's a non-event.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-10-17