WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15, 2006:
Paul McNish, supervisor in the Carey New Orleans Meetings and Events division and chauffeur-extraordinaire has won “Chauffeur of the Year 2006″ honors from the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) and from Limousine Digest magazine.

A ten year veteran of Carey New Orleans and a full-time employee, Paul has received Certified Platinum Level Chauffer qualification through the National Transportation Certification Program. A profile on McNish appeared in the Fall 2006 edition of Transportation Leader, the TLPA trade magazine. That profile quoted the nomination submitted by Carey New Orleans president Dean Schuler, who wrote, “Paul McNish turns every client into a repeat client. He leads by example and is an inspiration to the entire chauffeur corps of Carey New Orleans.”

The Limousine Digest honors were announced at the Limo Digest Show in Atlantic City earlier this month. As Susan Rose, editor of Limousine Digest explained, “Each year we receive dozens of nominations for the Chauffeur of the Year award, one of our most popular categories. We glean the best candidate from the extensive list — not an easy feat.”

“Customers associate the reputation of a company with the service they receive from a chauffeur,” Rose continued. “Chauffeurs are the most visible frontline of the limousine industry, and a service is only as great as the chauffeurs who make their customers feel special. A truly professional chauffeur will provide excellent service regardless of the situation. This year, we honored Paul McNish of Carey New Orleans as our Chauffeur of the Year, who epitomizes these qualities and then some.”

Devin J. Murphy, President & CEO of Carey International, Inc. congratulated the honoree on his dual awards, saying, “Paul McNish exemplifies Carey’s best in the business chauffeurs, and it is our chauffeurs that continue to differentiate Carey’s service for over for 85 years. He is an example not only of the highest technical professional standards we maintain for our clients but of the service ethic that defines Carey quality. We named Paul McNish our Carey International Chauffer of the Year in 1999. We could not be more proud, or more proud of Paul, that two distinguished authorities in our industry have made the same choice.

Carey International is the world’s premier provider of limousine services and luxury ground transportation with locations in over 550 cities and 65 countries. Since 1921, the Carey brand has represented uncompromising reliability and impeccable professionalism, safety, security and quality. Carey provides a full range of chauffeured services, including luxury airport limousine services as well as transportation for road shows, special events, and tours. Certified professional chauffeurs, a state-of-the-art fleet of luxury vehicles and an industry-leading quality assurance program, set the standard for luxury limousine and executive car services. Carey also has the only Meeting and Events division in the chauffeured transportation industry, providing end-to-end event transportation and meeting management services including planning, logistics, on-site coordination and centralized billing. For more information, please visit www.carey.com.

Devin J. Murphy, President & CEO of Carey International, Inc. congratulated the honoree on his dual awards, saying, “Paul McNish exemplifies Carey’s best in the business chauffeurs, and it is our chauffeurs that continue to differentiate Carey’s service for over for 85 years. He is an example not only of the highest technical professional standards we maintain for our clients but of the service ethic that defines Carey quality. We named Paul McNish our Carey International Chauffer of the Year in 1999. We could not be more proud, or more proud of Paul, that two distinguished authorities in our industry have made the same choice.”

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In late August 2005, the owners and managers of Carey New Orleans didn’t waste any time as they prepared for the approach­ing hurricane. Newscasters were already anticipating that it would be one of the worst storms on record, and it was heading straight toward The Big Easy.  Having evacuated many times before, the entire team was on the same page when the crisis came.  The team and their immediate families evacuated to Houston, which included a fleet of cars, the office records, important papers, and everything needed to reopen the company when the clouds cleared. The makeshift command center served as Carey New Orleans’ pulse after the storm—Hurricane Katrina—hit and the company was operating near full capacity within a few weeks. When other companies were devastated, Schuler and his team kept the cars rolling with a network of FEMA contracts to shut­tle victims of the storm out of the bruised city and today is one of the few companies that survived financially and physically. His was also one of the first companies to return to the city and reestablish full operations.

Dean Schuler, president of Carey New Orleans who han­dles the early morning operations, is a well-known and pas­sionate industry veteran who has the fortitude to plan for the unexpected. With his strong senior-level staff—General Manager Amy Abadie, who runs the daily operations after Schuler’s overnight shift, Vice President of Operations John Abadie, and Field Manager/Chauffeur Paul McNish, who earned two nation­al awards as Chauffeur of the Year in 2006—Schuler consistently recognizes his staff for their contribution to the success of the company. Schuler dedicated the award to his staff in his acceptance speech.

Amy Abadie first joined the company in 1997 as a sales executive. Schuler recognized her incredible, untapped potential immediately and promoted her through the ranks to her current position as general manager of the company in late 2000. She oversees the operations of the company and is directly respon­sible for company policy and procedures. Her husband, John Abadie, and Paul McNish are responsible for chauffeur training to meet Carey’s exacting standards. As a testament to their job well done, Carey New Orleans’ chauffeurs are frequently extolled for their attention to detail and flawless execution in their roles as mobile concierges. Together, McNish and Abadie, former Carey chauffeurs themselves, have developed a chauffeur training pro­gram tailored for Carey New Orleans and based on the successful and industry standard Smith System. Abadie was certified as a Smith System instructor in 2001. Quality control is a constant at Carey New Orleans through its mystery rider program and from direct feedback from clients, who are invited to anonymously grade the company’s services, which keeps the Carey New Orleans staff on its toes.

The company has come a long way from its roots in the early 90s. Schuler and longtime friend Edward Sakakeeny col­laborated on several business ventures from their college days. The two decided to jump into the ownership side of the limou­sine industry, and with their com­bined 20 years of industry expert­ise, founded Sig­nature Livery in 1994 in New Orleans. After just 2 years, the company’s high level of service was recognized and Schuler was awarded the Carey license for the city of New Orleans. Sakakeeny remains largely involved on the local level as a consult­ant as well as in sales and in special projects while Schuler is devoted to the company’s operations.

Carey New Orleans consistently provides top-notch service to clients, allowing customers to be the driving force behind everything the company does. Carey New Orleans han­dles jobs of any size, expanding its fleet to over 100 vehicles when necessary. A big destination city for conventions, Carey International often calls upon its New Orleans franchise to han­dle an event. McNish was also personally asked by Carey Inter­national to spearhead several large events in the city of New Orleans when the network was introducing its sister company, Carey Meetings and Special Events, in 2000. He received numer­ous accolades from corporate headquarters for a perfect job. They were so impressed with McNish’s performance that he was asked to assist with the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa, a city of which he knew very little. He handled the job like a true pro­fessional and again won the praises of Carey International. Schuler initially launched his company to stardom and garnered the attention of Carey International in 1994 after his longtime relationships with destination management companies recom­mended the company to the network.
The company is well-known for its generosity with the Make-A-Wish Foundation by donating trips whenever possible. Carey New Orleans has a standard policy of giving a three-hour gift certificate to every legitimate charity that calls. The Carey New Orleans staff, including Sakakeeny and GM Ababie, is very involved in the local community and charities. Schuler, who is very active on a national level, is also very generous with his time as an industry icon and a friend to all those who ask for his help, especially for new operators. Schuler has been a long­time contributor to leading industry publications since 1986, and currently writes a monthly column for Limousine Digest called Signature Livery. In addition to being a tireless supporter and contributor to the magazine, Schuler has been a longtime circulation consultant and has championed several circulation proj­ects for the magazine.

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New Orleans Company to Accept ‘Limousine Operator of the Year’ Award by Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association

(ROCKVILLE, Maryland)—The Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) is pleased to announce it has named Dean Schuler, CEO of the limousine company Carey New Orleans of Louisiana, as its 2009 Limousine Operator of the Year.

In a highly competitive field of applicants for the award this year, Schuler and Carey New Orleans showed an unwavering commitment to quality, service and community involvement.

“We were deeply impressed by the systems used at Carey New Orleans to ensure that drivers are properly trained and regularly assessed to ensure the highest level of service,” said Alfred LaGasse, Chief Executive Officer of the TLPA. “That was immensely clear as well from the numerous letters of thanks and support from some high-level clients as part of the award application.”

Schuler drove his first limousine in 1976, earning money part-time while attending graduate school for a degree in psychology. But it wasn’t until almost two decades later that he started his company, Signature Limousine, in 1994. He was granted the Louisiana license for Carey, a national company, in 1996.

Now comprised of 21 vehicles, Carey New Orleans prides itself on consistent quality and employee retention. Schuler makes sure every new driver goes through a defensive driving course and attends classroom training, as well as receiving a half-day tour of the city with a local guide. To further ensure quality, Schuler uses “mystery riders” to regularly evaluate service.

“Service is like a personal signature: Get that right, and you can roll with anything else,” Schuler says. “You have to love working with people and be willing to knock yourself out to provide great customer service.”

Schuler will accept the award on Oct. 5 in front of nearly 1,000 industry peers at the TLPA’s annual convention, held this year at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. This year marks the 91st Annual Convention & Trade Show for the TLPA, and is the world’s largest gathering of for-hire fleet executives.

Established in 1917, the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) is a non-profit trade association of and for the private passenger transportation industry. Its extensive membership spans the globe to include 1,000 taxicab companies, executive sedan and limousine services, airport shuttle fleets, non-emergency medical transportation companies, and paratransit services. For more information, please visit www.tlpa.org.