PARK RIDGE, N.J. -

Donlen chief executive officer Gary Rappeport will retire at the end of the year, and stepping into the leadership spot at Donlen on Jan. 1 will be Tom Callahan, who is the currently the company's president and chief operating officer.

The news was announced this morning by the Hertz Corp., which acquired Donlen last year.

Callahan's title will be vice president of Hertz and president of Donlen. He will report directly to Mark Frissora, Hertz's chairman and CEO.

"During the merger process last year, Gary indicated that he wanted to stay on board to ensure a smooth transition and to launch several new initiatives leveraging the respective strengths of Hertz and Donlen before retiring," Frissora said. "Integration is 100 percent on track, and already we have launched several new products and services made possible by our merger.  

"Gary served Donlen, a highly successful company his father started in 1965, for 27 years, the last 15 as CEO, having developed a culture and management team that will take Donlen to new heights."

Frissora continued: "Tom Callahan has been appointed Donlen's president after an extensive internal and external search conducted over the past several months. Tom has been with Donlen for seven years and has brought invaluable perspective and focus to Donlen.  

"For example, he led efforts to implement new ways to measure and improve the company's approach to customer relationships, resulting in unprecedented year-over-year customer satisfaction and retention results. We look forward to the Donlen and Hertz teams implementing many of Tom's ideas to accelerate Donlen’s growth," he said.