Tontitown-based carrier PAMT Corp. has promoted chief financial officer Lance Stewart to president, CEO and company director, according to a Monday (Aug. 4) news release. The appointment is effective Monday.
Stewart, 56, replaces Joe Vitiritto, who resigned June 27 for family reasons. Chairman Matthew Moroun has served as interim CEO since June 27 and will return to his role as chairman.
Daniel Kleine, who was recently promoted to senior vice president of finance and treasurer, will be the company’s principal financial and accounting officer until a permanent chief financial officer is named. His role is effective Monday. The company is also conducting a nationwide search for an additional executive to serve in an operational capacity.
Stewart was vice president of finance, chief financial officer and treasurer since April 2023. He’s a Tontitown native, having grown up near the company’s headquarters. He joined the company’s operating subsidiary, P.A.M. Transport Inc., in 1989 and worked in various roles before being promoted to vice president of accounting in 2002. He was vice president of accounting and controller from 2002 to 2010. He was appointed vice president of finance, chief financial officer, secretary and treasurer in 2010. He worked in that role until 2013 and briefly left the company.
Between 2016 and 2020, he was vice president of accounting for P.A.M. before being named vice president of operations from 2020 until becoming chief financial officer. He also was interim chief financial officer in March 2023.
Kleine, 36, has served as senior vice president of finance since June and was vice president of tax from June 2023 to June 2025. Before joining the company, he worked in various roles for Springdale-based poultry company George’s Inc., including as tax director from September 2022 to June 2023 and tax accounting manager from October 2020 to September 2022. He was senior tax accountant at George’s from June 2017 to October 2020.
He was senior tax accountant at Frost PLLC in Little Rock from August 2013 to June 2017. He’s a certified public accountant and earned bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Shares of PAMT (NASDAQ: PAMT) closed Monday at $12.15, up 52 cents or 4.47%. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has ranged between $11.01 and $23.70.