2024: #3 Fastest Growing Private Company: Merchants Fleet

Brad Burgess and Kirk Hoffman, co-CEOs (Photo Courtesy of Merchants Fleet)

Three-Year Average Annual Growth: 106%
Founded: 1962
Rank on Private 100: 4 
Headquarters: 14 Central Park Drive, Hooksett
Co-CEOs: Brad Burgess and Kirk Hoffman
Total Number of Employees: 596
Product/Service: Fleet management services

After more than 60 years in business, fleet management company Merchants Fleet in Hooksett has grown from “a New Hampshire- and New England-based organization to a national organization,” says Interim Co-CEO Brad Burgess. In 2023, gross sales broke the $1 billion mark. “But we remain well-rooted in New England,” he adds.

The company offers commercial rentals and sales, long- and short-term fleet services, vehicle remarketing and fleet acquisition options, all while staying ahead of the curve on emerging markets like electric vehicles.

Burgess credits former Chairman, CEO and President Brendan Keegan, who retired in May after 15 years with the company, as “a visionary leader with a growth mindset” who positioned the company to prosper. Burgess and Kirk Hoffman were named interim co-CEOs upon his departure.

Also critical to success is an energized staff willing to meet clients where they are, Burgess says. “They have the passion, the willingness to be flexible and to really think outside the box, and be innovative and help a client fix or do something that others can’t or won’t,”
he adds.

The company works with nearly 3,000 clients, representing more than 200,000 vehicles on the road in the United States, according to Burgess.

Merchants Fleet continues to explore expansion opportunities, such as partnerships with technology-related companies, and ways of increase the firm’s global reach.

That will include helping clients navigate artificial intelligence, electric vehicles (EVs), and changing regulations regarding combustion engines.

Merchants already offers guides, blogs, and webinars with information on EVs, EV markets and the infrastructure needed to support zero-emission vehicles. Burgess boasts that the company’s office has the most EV charging stations in NH, and is “leading by example.”

All of this is keeping Merchants Fleet ahead of the industry curve. Burgess says the industry historically grows at a 2% to 6% annually in recent years but “we’re targeted to be well above that.”