Our History

National Van Lines started in 1901 when F.J. McKee began using a wagon pulled by a single pony to deliver ice and coal to the Chicago area. Due to his success in the community, McKee began to expand his services, ultimately moving vaudeville sets for acting troupes, including the world-famous Charlie Chaplin. As word spread about the care with which McKee handled his customers’ belongings, even more success soon followed, and by 1916, McKee had built up an entire fleet of trucks to provide more moving services to more people.

Although things looked bleak for business then, the McKee family never gave up. In 1931, F.J. McKee passed the business along to his son, F.L. McKee, the father of our current CEO, Maureen Beal. F.L. McKee was well known throughout Hollywood for being a tenor with a fantastic voice, and he performed with famous legends, including Bing Crosby and Shirley Temple. Despite his performance success, F.L. McKee couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join the family business and continue National Van Lines's legacy of providing “famously” top-notch moving services.

Maureen Beal, granddaughter of F.J. McKee, was the third-generation leader and CEO of National Van Lines from 1993 until her retirement at the end of 2019. Proud to be one of the few female CEOs in the moving-and-storage industry, Maureen Beal’s guidance steered National Van Lines toward worldwide success with 400+ agents, including our military and domestic partners. Maureen Beal understood moving is about more than simply relocating—it’s about creating new memories and protecting existing ones as you move from place to place.

Tim Helenthal assumed his Chairman & CEO position in January 2020 after serving seven years as the company’s President & COO. Starting with National Van Lines 26 years ago, he was vice president of agency services for a sister company, National Forwarding Co., and manager of that company’s Total Quality Assurance Program. When Tim started as a one-person department at National Van Lines, roughly 20 people worked in his division. During his 18 years in that sector, the division grew to nearly 70 employees. Throughout his tenure, National Van Lines has set (and broken) sales records; one division even tripled its sales.