“Businesses, whether they have assets or not, are just made up of people. And not everybody’s the same and not everybody’s goals are the same. [M&A] is not a one size fits all approach. Our goal is to help them reach whatever their goal is, and it’s different for different people.”

– Michael Golden, Partner with Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Page recently wrote that in the 3rd quarter of 2019, the combined transaction value of M&A activity in the transportation and logistics sector was $27.6 Billion, the most since first quarter of 2018. What is driving all of this activity and what do involved companies need to know?

In this interview, Michael Golden, Partner with Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP, and Adam McDaniel, SVP for Enterprise Solutions at Redwood Logistics, provide Supply Chain Now Radio Co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White with their advice about managing M&A in the logistics space, including:

• Do keep your focus on where you want to go, but… don’t prejudge the options in any given situation
• How to have the most effective conversations with interested parties early in the process
• The importance of trust and the impact it can have on high-stakes decision making

[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio Broadcasting Life Supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia. Supply Chain Now Radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the technology’s the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

[00:00:29] Hey, good morning. Scott Luton here with you, Lybian Supply chain. Now radio. Welcome back to the show. On today’s show, we are talking about making deals across the End to end Supply chain industry. As we all know, M&A activity has been brisk and we’re going to learn from two subject matter experts that have been there and done that. So stay tuned. Like all of our series on Supply Chain Now Radio, you can find our replays on a variety of channels Apple podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, Greg White, wherever you get your podcast from. As always, we’d love to have you subscribe so you don’t miss anything. Let’s thank our sponsors that allow us to bring these best practices and innovative ideas to you, our audience. They range from the Effective syndicate Vector Global Logistics, ProPurchaser.com, Spend Management Experts and many more. You can check out each of our sponsors on the show notes of this episode. All right. Let’s welcome in my fearless co-host here today may have heard him chime in. Greg White serial supply chain, tech entrepreneur and trusted advisor. Greg, how you doing this morning? I’m doing great. Chiefs keep winning. Yeah, I’ll be happy about it. Yeah, I right a date this podcasts. Or I could tell you which game it was, but can we please watch the game?

[00:01:40] It was because, you know, it was the Chargers home game. Yes, technically. But clearly there were a lot more Kansas City fans in the stands and there were Charger fans.

[00:01:48] So going global, too. Yeah. Next, Mexico City. Okay. Awesome stadium. A sticker. Well, we’re gonna get her back here. Keep driving. Oh, yeah. We can’t talk about the chiefs. All the NFL series is our next series. Throw the tapes next Tuesday. But let’s say we’re gonna talk about a subject that we’ve really just alluded to here and there rather than take a deeper dove. Yeah. So in with all the activity that’s taking place from an M&A standpoint, really across industry, you know, logistics and transportation probably gets talking about spoken out the most because a freight tech, Logistics tech, whatever you call that, we were really excited to kind of clean the best insights and into insights from these two folks here. But before we do, let’s get a news update from Malcolm and the news desk.

[00:02:38] Thank you to Malcolm. Yeah. So I’m not sure that everyone is familiar with this, but, you know, since we’re going to find out. Yeah, let’s do. sinceI L.D. was introduced in 2017. Hours of service violations are down like third, almost 37 percent. Which is good. Right. So that SERT hours of service violation is a driver, truck driver driving more than 14 hours in a stent. Interesting. Lee, however, accidents are not down and speeding violations are still are still incurred at about the same rate. Wow. So that’s surprising. It is. But I look on and I know and you might want to chime in here, Adam, even though we haven’t introduced you. But but I think that that H2S was the primary reason for E.O.D.

[00:03:33] Wasn’t it? I would say so, yeah. I couldn’t think of a bigger opportunity to make a move like that.

[00:03:39] Yeah. You know, I got I got kind of put the cart for the horse. Skorton brekkie, Nyad’s or future career here. And then we can thinny can talk again. Yes. So Adam McDaniel to our audience. But you may just heard him chime in there. Senior Vise President, Enterprise Solutions with Redwood Logistics. Good morning, Adam. Thanks for having me. You bet. And Michael Golden, partner at Arnold Golden Gregory, an Atlanta based national law firm that works extensively across to India and Supply chain community. So good morning to Adam and to Michael. Good morning. So now it’s back to L.D.. So despite the the greater finger on the pulse, yet the government and regulation and companies can have is still not having the complete effect that a lot of folks might expect it to have.

[00:04:25] I think this is just my uneducated opinion as someone who drove a truck. You that. Yeah. As someone who, you know, is conscious of how drivers are driving on the road. Take some some. I love driving and I like driving on long trips. So I’ve seen some of that drivers on on the highways. Yeah. I’m very sensitive to it because my daughter went to Georgia Southern and we’ve had some a couple of fatal accidents on ice 16 on the way there. Some real. This is an issue of of something. It to me, but I think the main issue that they wanted to to impact was drivers driving dozy or whatever, right beyond the number of hours that they should. And that is one of the biggest causes of accidents. Now, what this this information says is accidents still occur, but there are much fewer.

[00:05:22] There are many fewer. Can you say that many fewer will roll with many fewer serious accidents occurring? Truckers are still speeding, right? As much as the g._p._s will let them do it.

[00:05:36] But I think the biggest issue, you know, just from a regular consumer and driver standpoint is just them driving, you know, when they’re excessively tired. Right.

[00:05:48] What do you think? I mean. I mean, I’d probably like to see the stat around average accidents per trucks on the road, right. 2018 with a spike market. Yeah, we have a lot more trucks on the road cut down to 19, which has been a soft market. It created that a little bit. Right. We had too much supply on the road. Yeah. You know, average of accidents per truck would probably give us a better estimate. Living in a statistician, you know, you start to learn about what this rubs off on you, right? They get slanted. So more accidents might not mean that there’s there’s more accidents all around for the efficiency measures.

[00:06:19] But I think, listen, you know, you had to get involved from the government standpoint. You had to you had to make a change. You know, civilians are dying. There’s lots of trucks on the road. There’s got to be a lot of mandates around what we can and can’t do from an industry standpoint. So.

[00:06:33] And so we’re gonna talk about here in a little bit. Digitization is happening, so. Right. Why? I mean, it makes a lot of sense. That needs to happen in terms of how we collect metrics to to make everybody safer and including bringing some rates, insurance rates down better protecting the drivers. Right? Sure. So but but with any big change, you know, you’re going to have a lot of pushback, a lot of challenges. I mean, you know, when you’re moving, someone’s she’s that significantly can be challenged and can’t work through. But Greg, what else from newsdesk over there?

[00:07:03] Yes. So ocean freight, let’s let’s talk about all the while we’re here. Right. So insta quoting. So a number of the big carriers have have introduced instant, instant quoting how POG, Lloyd, CMA and Maersk have all introduced insta quoting all on their own platforms. I think you’re still kind of captive to their rates, but that’s a big thing. I mean, you think about the days of making a phone call, waiting for a phone call back. People shuffling papers to try and figure out what you know, what this lane with this product on this vessel is, is, you know, we should charge. I think it’s a big step in the right direction. Right. I think the next step is to democratize at some to to have these rates available in a general marketplace, not just a one to one marketplace. But but that’s a big that’s a big change. Obviously, it impacts the speed with which things can be done right. It does increase the transparency. Some, you know, in terms of in terms of knowing what the rates are, you’re still a bit tied to a particular carrier.

[00:08:14] I mean, you’d still have to shop them each individually on their on their individual sites.

[00:08:18] Speaking ocean freight, we have Lee class with Bloomberg and tell you on the show a few weeks back about the public publishers episode. And he was weighing in on HMO 20/20. Right. Talk about what’s going to disrupt the ocean freight industry in a a good and bad way. We’d be really curious to see how that plays out, because as we spoke about, it’s not it’s as much about the technology of what they’re moving to as is the supply chain that make sure all the ports habit, it’s to keep ocean freight moving so huge. Any of y’all any thing you want to contribute in that, it probably just speaks to what you’re saying.

[00:08:57] You know, Disney’s Asians here, right? The cloud based SAS modeling is here. Ocean and ocean freights been one of those modes where it’s kind of been lagging in that area. I know that Maskin Those partners are really working hard on that front, but they have so large right of so many, you know, different competing aspects that they have to tackle on a day to day basis. They want to do what’s best for everyone. Right. Everyone gets their stuff from overseas on a vessel. All right. Very rarely do we use airfreight know with the allocation percentages meets its load eye. So I think that just, you know, they’re they’re trying to do the best they can. Just like we’re trying to do the best on the domestic front. You know, in the North American front, we’re trying to do the the visibility raise UPS for our clients is the number one thing that we’re trying to provide. Yeah.

[00:09:40] Yeah. Billy Ray Zoomer requires it. And it’s it’s pushing back up through the supply chain. Yeah. To be as transparent as you can in your supply chain Sheer, whether you’re a shipper or carrier, whatever. Yeah, it’s interesting. There’s still a long ways to go. So even Maersk said they’re off line processes, 13 steps, their online process. Still five steps. Sure, whatever those steps are. So there’s a there’s a long way to go, but that’s still a pretty significant process reduction. Right. Big year ahead for ocean freight. Yeah.

[00:10:11] Yeah. No doubt. And that’s that’s the news.

[00:10:15] Fantastic. There you have it. I mean, I thought I’d deliver three, but there really wasn’t anything shrinkage. That much interest. That much more interest.

[00:10:24] Well, if you could we could cover headlines and have a six hour show. I mean, there’s there’s so many things. But I like your cherry picked approach.

[00:10:31] Yeah, well, hey, can I make one quick and Ali on the news so you know, you’ve made it when the gentleman who asked us to to reinsert news into each each show. I used his first and last name and he said, hey, could you not use my last name? Because too many people are reaching out to me. So we’ve made it right. We have Steve. We have to say Stephen Alpharetta.

[00:10:57] Right. It’s like that moment in The Jerk where he finds a name. Yes. OK.

[00:11:04] All right. So let’s dove in. We get excited about these two guests here. One, Michael Golden is a repeat guest. We’re kidding. Before we went live here and we’re talking about how he was vying with Elba Patel Gallagher as making the number one most appearances here. We’re close. His firm’s hosting the show. They’ve been on the show. They’re again, they’re very active in the Supply chain space, which is is really neat to see that specialization that Ward Richman talks about, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. And let’s facilites get a.. Both of you. Adam, this is your first appearance on the show here. Adam, we’ll start with you. So tell us a little bit as we’re looking to paint a picture of who you are. Where are you from? And tell us about your your journey from, you know, born and raised. Sheer, you know, your current role.

[00:11:48] Right. Well, you know, I am I’m probably one of the few out here. Started in Logistics ad at birth. Right.

[00:11:55] My, my, my my father.

[00:11:58] I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. He was a terminal manager for sayat Transport at the time. Wow.

[00:12:04] You know, I’ve I’ve recently asked him and I’ve yet to get a straight answer. You know, 1977 high school graduate, 1980 is not until there’s deregulation. He’s in Supply chain management at Mississippi State in like 78 through 81. And I was like, did you get a tip?

[00:12:21] Well, you know what? What would you do it in there? They’re obviously going through that process. But did they even call it Supply chain? How do you like that? I don’t know if he was a transportation manager or something like that.

[00:12:33] I think he did mention at one point he had three people in his class.

[00:12:36] So, you know, obviously not very heavy on the participation rates at NC State, but they got a great school over there. Yeah, he went right into it. Born in Lafayette, Siah Transport moved from there when he onboarded a Carolina transport. If you where those guys, great trucks, red letters, Jerry Hill and, you know, went kind of moved around. Right. Meridian, Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi. My family on that side from Mississippi. And in 1990, he took the Vetlanta West job for Carolina Transport. And, you know, we moved to Powder Springs, which was about twenty five minutes from full Industrial, which is whereas terminal headquarters was just, you know, became a freight family.

[00:13:13] One of the toughest stretches of road in metro Atlanta. When I moved to Atlanta, I was covering territory that covered Fulton Industrial from start to finish. Get a dot some dayjet dodge pallets in the road. High, amongst other things.

[00:13:27] You know what I say? That’s the as the breeding ground for real logistician.

[00:13:31] You know, we all came from the hard knocks over there. Yeah, that’s a duster. I’ve worked at. I mean, we just moved in 2017. I’ve been working there since 0 9. So, you know, I’ve got a lot of track record of full Industrial on my belt as well. So, you know, growing up in his you know, growing up in that family with him and and working at his shop and, you know, going through some of the key points, I think, you know, 90, the move to Georgia was was different for our family. Right. Powder Springs is a fantastic place to grow up. Ended up going to MacEachern High School, which obviously is a huge sports corridor for what I was trying to attempt to do and go into the 94 strike, you know, drop ride with him to work through picket lines and things like crazy. You know, like that’s that’s a it’s a whole nother day’s work there.

[00:14:13] I guess I’m sure the full Industrial serious sort of early in that one. Downtown. Yeah. Yeah. Riding around in Amar’s they go into picket lines is a different deal you know.

[00:14:24] And then ninety-seven you know after the strike and he went in AVF purchased Carolinas, you know, majority control. He just starter. You don’t wanted to be a entreprenuer. And so you know I thought we had a good sardines and peanut butter sandwiches later. You know, a couple of years we’ll start eat steak a little bit every now and then, you know, late in high school. But it was it was such a wild ride to be in a household where, you know, you went all in. We talked about a little bit before the show started. You know, when you entreprenuer, you got to go all the way. There’s no there’s no second very guessing. There’s no what if we don’t make it? You’re not gonna make it. That’s a mindset that you got an entrepreneurship. That’s just something. You’re not going to make it. My dad was great with that, it was an awesome leader. Operational. You know, orchestrator had been through union casual the whole nine yards and running a warehousing and trucking outfit here in Atlanta, you know, through the early 2000s was it was a boom. You know, and he had a lot of success doing that and watching, working. And, you know, in between baseball games or football games or, you know, working when I could mostly sweeping the warehouse, he thought that was the only job that I was really intelligent enough to hold.

[00:15:28] So he was wrong. You know, hey, you know, he missed him. He argued me, it’s out of here. Sandeep defense.

[00:15:35] But yeah, you came up on a decision where I was able to accept a scholarship to the verse of Georgia to play baseball, did play for the dogs for four years. Had some great teams where little it’s you went to college World Series twice. What does this Jesse James show the shortstop third base and then turn relief pitcher back half my career. So kind of got to go. Interesting. Yeah, probably my best asset. I’m getting drafted by the Padres and kind of, you know, doing doing the minor league thing for for a while. Which where you go first.

[00:16:05] Eugene, Oregon. Double-A. It was you know, that was short season at the time. There were some great athletes out there. It was a part of a country that I you know, I don’t know if I would ever actually got to go out there and see that. Got to build some awesome relationships and, you know, do it right, do the professional athlete thing and, you know, learn. I know my league is about to go through a big shift and change and all that, but. That’s right. You know, it was it was a very interesting time in life trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Right. There’s opportunity costs with getting education versus staying in the minor leagues and ultimately decided that, you know, didn’t see that I wasn’t drafted high enough, didn’t see the investment being made and a short career to the majors or anything like that. Maybe I wasn’t even good enough to get there in the long run anyways, but I wanted to come back and maximize this opportunity to get my education at uverse in Georgia. Just really loved the school. Athens was such a fantastic place for me and came back to one semester, lived with some football guys, were number one in the country. That was an interesting note.

[00:17:06] Most of that’s probably not for not for Sheer, but to Joe Rogan.

[00:17:12] You know, and then in January 5th, 2009, jumped. Right, you know, full fee into my father’s company. You know, right on the hind side of 08/09. Right. So write up what I think the greatest time to be working in Logistics, probably not for everyone, but starting out, you know, with nothing. You know, we went right into a rut, into a price market and we were able to do some things and be creative in that value creation, especially with a younger mindset. And I kind of hadn’t been here very long and wanted to test the waters in a bunch areas, shell off some bad, bring on some good and had, you know, had a great run working with your dad. I mean, there’s just nothing nothing better than that. You know, Michael Onboth both can attest to that. It’s difficult, I think, to say the least. But it’s it’s one of those time periods when I look back on that I’ll never be able to trade. And I think talking with other people, they wish that they could have that opportunity.

[00:18:04] Outstanding. And when did you join the Red Wood Organization?

[00:18:08] So I met Michael in 2015, three transactions and three years later brought me to the to the CIO capital Redwood staff. I mean, just couldn’t be happier. It’s a it’s a star studded klatt, you know, as we, as you guys know, really move moving and shake. And I think that they’ve got a great platform. We’re all growing in the same areas. And just so happy to be a part of that team.

[00:18:30] Yep. And we’re gonna talk more about that and those transactions you mentioned here in a few minutes. Want to shift gears back over to Michael, Michael, golden age, G-G. So, Michael, you’ve been on you’re not new to our listeners, but listless freak. Make sure they are aware of your background. So where are you from and where have you spent your career?

[00:18:49] Strangely, Adam and excuse me, are backgrounds somewhat Miura each other now? So I started playing in my dad’s law office as a young child. And I’m frequently asked how well you became a lawyer because your dad’s a lawyer. As if that was a commandment. It was not a commandment. But what I saw is that my dad enjoyed his career and he did something that had an unintentional impact on me, which was he would take me on business trips with him. So if he had a trip to New York, he would take me to New York. If he had one in Houston, he would take me to Houston. And what I saw was how he got involved with his clients. The law is really just a conduit or enabler.

[00:19:38] The rules of engagement to allow a business to do something were ancillary to the business, but were important to the business.

[00:19:47] Making didn’t safe decisions. So I am from Atlanta other than the detour of going to school in Philadelphia and Durham. I’m a lifelong Atlantan. I’m a booster of the city. I’m lucky that I’ve lived in Atlanta of this era because drive around Atlanta, you can’t see anything but growth. All right. Is my mother and light likes to say the the official bird of Atlanta is the crane construction crane. You know that right outside your office was pretty good. And I work in a law firm that was started by my grandfather. And my father works there still to this day actively. And there is something special about working with your father. There’s pluses and minuses, but the pluses far outweigh the minuses. Mm hmm.

[00:20:38] Gosh, we have lots of fodder for future podcasts. Well, I want to dove into that so much. But we’ve got a we’ve got protective topics. We will talk about M&A activity in digitization, but quick departure. Want to get your favorite books that you recently read or are reading. And Adam, let’s start with you.

[00:20:56] Some actually on a new venture. I’m trying to be consistent and, you know, dedicated to new things in 2020, coming off of new things for 20, 19, 20 minutes a night. I’m reading. So it seems like that’s nothing, but it is daunting. I will tell you, I’ve never been really a reader. It’s just run hot. So just don’t sit out very often.

[00:21:20] Drives my wife insane. But, you know, really have enjoyed the books here lately. And right now I’m in the middle of Ray Dalio is principals think it’s one of those good power scams. Right. You know, get the hit at the highlights if you see something you know that you want to dove into. It’s a long book. I actually got it from Eric from. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Over that CIO. Over Redwood, who’s an avid reader. And he’ll send me tidbits. Hey, have you read this? You should read this. We share in The Alchemist, which is one of those books that we both find to be very interesting.

[00:21:52] So I’m in the middle of that right now and trying to, you know, get through it and then get onto another one or twenty minutes a day, 20 months a day. And I believe it was when the keynotes at the Logistics CEO forum. Yeah, he was actually so fantastic.

[00:22:06] He’s he’s a he’s got a law is a lot a lot going on up there. And he’s super brilliant.

[00:22:11] Well, there were some wouldn’t get chance sit down with him because I think he had a lot so much buzz around him. But that was a well received conference. Two days of power thought leaders for sure. OK, so Michael, what about you? Favorite book, Sue.

[00:22:24] Right now, I’m reading two books. Coincidentally, both involve Atlanta. One is a new book. One’s an old book. I’m reading Barbarians at the Gate. Mm hmm. Found it on a bookshelf. Hadn’t read it. It was given to me 20 years ago. It’s about KKR is takeover of RJR Nabisco. Largely centered around Atlanta. And the other book is a book that was just released in the last week. It’s about the Olympic Park bombing and Richard Jewell Jerai, the suspect. And coincidentally, Clint Eastwood is releasing a movie about that. Right. And called Richard Jewell. And they’re both very much character driven, true stories.

[00:23:02] I saw Olivia Wilde and Marcel’s really what in that the movie is either out or sort of being we’re coming out in the next couple of weeks.

[00:23:13] Yes. This coming out fifth dinner here. Sandeep.

[00:23:16] Yeah. Jon Hamm and all those guys are, you know, in town doing the really when the shooting and the filming of them.

[00:23:22] Okay. So let’s let’s shift gears over. I want to you know, Adam, you’ve already spoken to Redwood Logistics real quick for those few that may not know. In a nutshell, what does the firm do and then where do you spend your time?

[00:23:35] So I’m, you know, obviously brand new to the Redwood team with the transaction closed earlier this year. I am a absolute neophyte in this size. I’m trying to learn as fast as I possibly can.

[00:23:48] I got I was able to take about a 10 week or 12 week tour of Chicago with the headquarters as and really learn mostly about the multimodal stage. You know, the full truckload brokerage wasn’t really part of my past. Much more ingrained in the LTL space, a little bit more and parcel and freight forwarding. But I’ve been able to kind of grow through that. And then, you know, walking into 2020, we’re just trying to grow a portfolio. You know, I’m really, really focused on enterprise sales, which for us means, you know, trying to take customers and make sure that we’re offering them all facets of what the Redwood platform, you know, can really offer to them, because you never expect to. Right. You have a TMX. We have everything. Right. You know, as as we’ve as I’ve had to learn, you know, we’ve really got and. And what’s great about it is I don’t have to be versed. Right. I think I mentioned before for that kind of you know, it’s wonderful to work with Mark. He is like Kirby Smart. And the fact that he lets his players do what they do well. But, you know, I’m not clued in on the offensive strategy when I’m on defense. I like to think of myself as as a free safety. Yeah. Yeah. I played in high school on an island, on an island, you know, doing my thing, trying to, you know, trying to run with the team as best as I possibly can and then focus on what you know, what’s under my purview.

[00:24:58] Yeah. Lot of growth. Growth, let’s have you back on this. As you know, the interchanges changes and evolves so much and you know, you have to make different capabilities at Redwood. We could. We could. 17 shows right here.

[00:25:12] Yes. We’ll have to have it. And I’m not the right one to. How’s that? Right. I mean, you know, Mark and those guys do such a great job. It’s so fast moving. Yep. For them. BNP backed at that at this level. You know, it’s just it’s so fun to watch and be a part. Todd Berger and I talk a lot about it. It really is a jump from the minor leagues to the big leagues. You know, having this much spin, having this much access, you know, accessibility to bright minds, being able to think about the industry in a completely different manner than your microcosm of growing your own small business. You know, you’re head down, you’re kind of trained like. Right, you’re on a track. You’re going to to service a mission, which we can talk about with, you know, Michael ani’s interactions together was really that, you know, like let’s create a mission that makes sense for me personally, for my family, for the business itself and the members of the business. And let’s let’s put our head down. Let’s go get that a bit up at your number one draft pick for the company softball team that year by is vying to get you as their starting shortstop. Right. It’s funny you say that. You know, I’ve probably played to softball games in my career. I guess it’s one of those things. I always felt like baseball wasn’t like basketball. It’s not a pickup sport. Right. And softball kind of felt like a little bit pickup ish to me. I’ve seen some guys tears, Macie else. And I see those guys, you know, tear some labor homes. I was fortunate enough to get out, you know? Yeah. On on. With all your catastrophic injury after, you know, thousands and thousands of baseball games. So you’re good. I’m good. I’m good. You know, still all the GM ARX Froome in the Palatine, you know, I’m in the safe all the safe things.

[00:26:41] Gotcha. All right. So, Michael, quick question for you as well. You know, what does the transportation in Logistics practice ATDC do and where do you spend your time supporting it?

[00:26:53] Thank you. I would say our practice sort of runs the gamut in a sort of as you used the term, end to end. We have a client base that’s out, say asset heavy. They own trucks, they own property. They may provide services within these warehouses that they own, but sort of what you would have called a trucking or a warehouse lawyer in the 80s and how we call them Logistics lawyers. Right. What I would say what I would say if our practices any reflection of what’s going on in this area, it’s a move to data and technology. And so a lot of our clients today look like small tech companies that in the 90s you said they weren’t Internet company or any retailer. They’re providing a service. The asset is data or technology. Sometimes it’s proprietary technology. Sometimes it’s aftermarket technology that they use as a tool to do their job better. And then because of our experience in that area, we have other clients, shippers, if you will, to who we represent in their supply chain issues that would come up with their vendors or perhaps with the government, you know, importation problems.

[00:28:21] Right. You know, as we were talking about this on Twitter with some of our followers, as exciting of a time as it is to be in the Indian supply chain space these days. And as we’ve talked about 1000 times, the industry and you see more chief supply chain officers than ever before. There’s a sea the table for your supply chain leaders like never before. However, I would argue that there’s never, ever been a greater need for sage counsel and advisors, especially in the globe, this global environment. Right? So complex. Yes, it is so complex. And to Michael’s point, firms that were categorized here that dealt with this portion are now pulled. You know, technology is supply chain these days and vise versa. Right. So I’m sure y’alls team has know no shortage of of things on its plate here lately.

[00:29:12] All right. Well, which is trade and trade and tariff compliance. Yes. I don’t think there’s a huge opportunity to neat.

[00:29:19] Look, you know, you’ve recognized that we all recognize that when you build a company, you’re good at what you’re good at. Right.

[00:29:26] And there there are very few people who are great at at running a Logistics company, integrated understanding and and and managing risk. The complexities of the law. Sure. Right. Or finance or, you know, pick pick a specialty. Right.

[00:29:42] So but don’t don’t put more than three. Right. Right. Or maybe pick a winner over all of them. That’s right. That’s I guess that’s the point.

[00:29:50] That’s right. So let’s talk about digitization. We’ve already alluded to a couple of times, Adam. All the projects and the transactions and and just what you’ve been through in your career, you’ve seen a good bit of everything when it comes to digital transformations. That’s really changing the industry. Give us a couple of your key lessons learned or key observations from that time. Sheer.

[00:30:17] So, you know, in 2009, it was such a different I mean, it seems like that was eons ago, right? I mean, it was such a different feel.

[00:30:25] It’s it’s all manual, right? The buildings are manual. Everything’s being written down. Fax is key, right. You know, when you’re when you’re accepting low, I mean. And I’m driving, I laugh inside all the time. I’m thinking about how many times I had to fax a key tender, write to a large customer at 3 a.m. or who? You know, someone like that size. And we’re faxing back and forth and there’s rate changes and you got to pick the phone up. And it’s just such a different world than where we are now.

[00:30:51] You know, I mean, when we when we sold the family business in 2000, 16 with Michael’s group, you know, it it was sad, too.

[00:31:02] I think that was that was a majority of what I felt great because it would allow me to do the things that I wanted to do in my career. But sad that a 20 year run was ending.

[00:31:12] Right. And I don’t see that very often.

[00:31:15] You’ll see entrepreneurs start something and then be able to consistently keep that and grow that for 20 years through all those adaptations and and iterations of the Internet. Right. When he’s out in 97, the Internet wasn’t even Netscape was here. Right. You know, in 2016 when we sell its EarthLink. Yeah, we’re on Tableau Keith. That’s it. So it’s just a completely different field. And we both saw it. You know, he and I both saw it was it was going to be a transformation and digital process. It was going to be data that was going to be the future. He had no appetite to do that. The want to stay and you know, and I did. And I think that we that was a schism that we were able to identify and want to move forward. So. Closing that warehousing and trucking transaction was was key for us to be able to move. We also wanted to pivot, right? With what? Off the brokerage side, we wanted to pivot to a cloud based SAS model. Consulting, cutting edge tech, those kinds of things. And then, you know, we branded L6 with some investors out of Florida and we had a great run. I mean, we essentially had nothing and grew in 24 months to the size that we could.

[00:32:19] You know, we could, you know, sell the stake to c.I Capital and overarching Redwood Holdings. And I mean, there was a law. It was an arduous road. Ryder. Fantastic team. Speak a little bit to what I think was key is is is really having an advisor that understood not only Supply chain, which is, you know, hard to find. Right. Michael’s a unicorn that he won’t speak too much to. But I will.

[00:32:47] Clearly we’ve tried to get him. It’s not you know, it’s like being in a room with a legend, right. You know, you’re not going to talk. Yeah. He doesn’t have to. Exactly. You know, what I heard recently was real G’s move in silence. Right. That’s right.

[00:33:02] But he was able to identify options for me, but never closed me off. Right. He I think he knew early that if it was going to be a closure aspect to something in my life, I was going to run right at it. Hopefully, I’ve grown past that and matured. Well, I would like to think that. No, I think that, you know, having a child will do that. Right. I’ve got a 20 month old. You know, he. You know, that’s that’s puts a little extra perspective on things and some focus. But he did such a phenomenal job for for myself on saying, hey, you know, you you like these aspects of this business. Go with it. You can do this. All right. You can you can move in this direction and we can still get you to where you want to go in. And. And I like to grow businesses to sell them to. Right. Like, that’s that’s to me, that’s the principle of growing a business is to is to make sure that you can continue to foster organic growth through the whole thing. And part of that growth within an organization is to take special minded people who are good in specific areas and then bring them on to what you’re trying to do in the long run. And and I think so we you know, I don’t know that we we were sold on the fact early that it was going to be private equity. Right. This is the only route. This is. It’s just access to capital. And they’ve got a lot of it. And there’s a lot of them. I had no shortage meetings. I probably had 75 meetups prior to selling for sure.

[00:34:19] This to Europe. Yeah. To your Tom Froome while go into business. So quick, one last question about this to your journey. When you talked to all the Technical in car, how you transformed the business Trident from month 1 to month 24. One of the common threads we’ve talked to a lot of these conversations with business leaders is as they are identifying technology and then bringing in own doing so in a very practical man or not one where, hey, this latest great technology we’re going to invest in and BME to Sheer speak to that a little bit.

[00:34:53] Yes. Great point. You know, I think that we were early on in the RPA world, the robotic process automation. We felt as though that with lean management, right. We weren’t, we were Miura C.O.O. were really focused on lean management. Our manufacturing partners and our customers had always been doing it. We found a very fast thing the Japanese way. And so we wanted to take that mindset and clean up processes along the way and then loop them in a virtual way. Right. Because most of what we were doing was was going to be redundant for humans to do. And I think that, you know, I think that really leveraged a we were able to leverage that technology into growing a larger field organization than it was for human capital that we could have spent. It also gave opportunities for others. I mean, when we close a transaction in January, we had almost 50 percent female. And I think that’s probably the most proud thing is not the that that the women need the help by any means. It’s just that they don’t know that the opportunities and data are the same. And Logistics as they may be in other industries. Yeah. I mean, we’re doing the same things.

[00:35:52] Yeah. And I would add to that the firms that are that are deliberate in terms of making sure that they are providing opportunities for all all walks of life, all genders, all, you know, to get them on board. Because as we all know, we’ve talked about this lots here recently is Diversey adds to the bottom line for sure. And I have a firm and so I would add y’all’s firm was probably in the 2 percentile to have upwards of 50 percent for sure. Be female. That is outstanding.

[00:36:24] It was you know, it was it wasn’t even something that we mandated internally. It wasn’t a board discussion. Right, with the p._e. It was just simply interview for the best position for the job. And don’t shy away from that individual, no matter who they are. Age, sex, whatever. You know, and obviously, you know, we just put together a really robust team of individuals that had different thoughts and theories on how to do things. And your customer wins. Customer wins. You know, and trying to make that service product offering. Around that, you know, customer experience.

[00:36:57] Right. Well put, you know, wanted to jump in here on something Adam said a minute ago, which was his transition as a leader. He went from being in a family business. And the essence of a family business is continuing the family owning and controlling the business, whether they’re running it on a day to day basis. This was a business his dad started. He was an asset intensive business. It was. I want to say old economy, because people still provide the function that his former company provides. You need trucks and space. But he evolved into being a modern entrepreneur. And as you heard, you know, he builds companies to sell them. That’s the antithesis, in my experience of a bit of a family owned business. And I we represent lots of family businesses and. Keeping the business in the family and supporting the family is important for a lot. I mean, maybe more important than whether their profit margin is 10 percent or 8 percent. And that probably his change in thinking probably also opened up his thinking, whether it was conscious or subconscious in bringing in people of all different types. You know, women, minorities and the like. I mean, he he has gone through an incredible sea change in his business accomplishments and what he’s done in a very short period of time.

[00:38:34] Well, I think one of things I hear you speaking to Michael is you’ll do a good job. And I think the best advisors and resources, they understand what the ownership leadership, where they want to go and then working with them to plot the right strategy and uncovering the blind spots that that’s rather than just assume all organizations want X, Y, Z. I’ve heard a lot of customization and approach. They’re what you’re speaking to, is that right?

[00:39:01] Absolutely. I mean, businesses, whether you have assets or not, are just made up of people. And not everybody’s the same and not everybody’s goals the same.

[00:39:10] It’s not a one size fits all approach. You are. Our goal is to help them. Reach whatever their goal is. And it’s different for different people. Yeah.

[00:39:23] Agreed. All right. So we’re going to make a right turn here and we’re going to talk about M&A activity. We noted on our weekly Supply chain Buzz from just a few weeks ago, Wall Street Journal’s Paul Page came out with this number the day, which I love. I’ll know if you’ll get the Logistics snapshot in the morning. Love it. Twenty seven point six billion dollars was the number of the day a few weeks back. And that was the guest as well. That was Greg. No idea. That’s the combined transaction value of M&A activity in the transportation and logistics sector in just third quarter 2019. That was the most since first quarter. Twenty eighteen, according to p.w. See where the number came from. So the flurry of activity. Right. Let’s let’s talk about y’all’s experiences before we get your dos and don’ts of successful deals. And maybe not so successful bills are you learn as much from from Y as you look at me when you said not so successful deal.

[00:40:22] Oh, always got to keep an eye on you, Greg. Yes. Well, no, of course. Of course not.

[00:40:26] But I think the point being, you learn as much from the wins as you do from from the losses. Right. Or the ones you don’t win. Maybe a better way of putting it. But first, let’s talk more about Michael. You’re just kind of speaking to some of y’all’s work together. Talk more about that. You know, what what did what were some of the observations from the deals I’ve worked on together? You know, till more Sheer, more of our listeners.

[00:40:52] Well, I think the the most important thing is keeping, you know, keeping things early on at a high level. Don’t get in. Don’t prejudge where you want to go.

[00:41:07] You know, we only want to sell to. We don’t want to sell to a private equity firm. Right. Or we only want to sell to an operator or we’re only going IPO or I to do an IPO or we don’t want to sell control or we don’t care about selling control.

[00:41:19] I mean, keep the goals more focused on the business and where you’re going. It is important. Identify what’s important to you. So control might be an important thing, but don’t prejudge it. I mean, I think Adam would say that he’s got wide latitude to do what he does for Redwood now, but he doesn’t control Redwood Jr. And I’m sure you’ve had a lot of internal thoughts about that. You know, if we started with we’ll never sell to private equity. He wouldn’t be where he is today. UPS. Ryder.

[00:42:00] Slow moving pieces, right. As you determine what’s important, what isn’t important. And rather than making those those assumptions or making maybe making some of those determinations too early, give it some deliberate thought. So I’m here and you say. Absolutely, Bill.

[00:42:17] A great company first. Mm hmm. I mean that like you said. I mean, that’s that’s the thing is. I know you said you build companies to sell them, but you build them great knowing that that’s what makes them sell you.

[00:42:33] Right. Without a great capital, you got no buyers, right. I mean, you know, people of any entrepreneur has run up against that, wanting to sell at a particular time in the macro events, not lining up. Right. And wanting to sell a business. And you’re in your economic numbers don’t make sense for what you think it’s worth. Right. Or what the market thinks it’s worth. I think one of the key factors of what I learned in all the interviews with any private equity or strategic earning, that kind of stuff, is that you get a unbiased view of your company. Typically, it’s negative. You know, they’re they’re posturing to make sure they get the price that they want or they’re just telling you flat out, here are the things you need to work on. Man, we took every single nugget of that and discarded what we felt like didn’t really apply to us. But really, where have at the ones that we felt like, hey, you know, they’re right. And until we do that, we’re not gonna have a more interviews or whatever the case may be. So, you know, I think that that was important.

[00:43:29] I think to Michael’s point, though, you know, open mindedness is gone. It has to be. If you’re looking to sell your company and you shell off one buyer, you know, then that’s a shame on you moment, you know, in my opinion.

[00:43:41] So you’re talking earlier about a slew of conversations you had from from potential suitors, you name it. How did you how do you all both gage? What is a successful conversation or effective conversation versus one that you know is not going anywhere past? Once that cup of coffee is done, sure.

[00:44:01] I mean, I’ll speak to just the recent one, you know, all the interviews and all that. Ninety nine percent of the conversations around financials, one conversation that I had with the principle of the AP was about LTL freight and the complexities of. Tariffs that we’re facing today.

[00:44:18] And how would we monetize that in the future and what we were looking at from a from a carrier partnership standpoint. Now or later, you know, we’re still talking about LTL freight. An hour later, I’m on the phone with, you know, the legend Mark Eggar. And we’re talking about the same thing that doesn’t happen. I can just tell you flat out, that doesn’t happen, didn’t happen in my experience. Most of it’s around financial bias. Most of it’s around one in me and the team to be a platform company. Right. Rather than a bolt on. We wanted to be more of we wanted to learn. Right. We you know, activity is gained through education. And we wanted to make sure that, you know, we were a part of a much larger organism where we could learn and prosper. And I think that, you know, redwoods not only offered that, it’s offered to, you know, in droves for us means we just feel blessed.

[00:45:09] Michael, there’s early conversations. What what what makes those more successful than others?

[00:45:16] The ability of the bitter potential buyer to listen to the seller and hear what their goals are and where they want to go with it. I mean, it’s, you know, selling your business unless you’re selling your business and you’re going to give the buyer the keys and go away, which happens a lot. But unless that is what the seller’s goal is, selling your business becomes the formation of a new partnership, even if you don’t retain any ownership in the in the acquired company. You do have a vested in my experience, most sellers have a vested emotional interest in what they’ve sold. And they care about it. And frequently it’s because they care about the people who have worked with them and help them build the company. I’ve found the best business people actually appreciate the people who work for them. You know, as much or maybe more than the clients that they serve.

[00:46:22] Interesting. Greene. All right.

[00:46:24] I think, you know, you have to acknowledge also that when when a transaction like that occurs, there’s there are often some real stipulations there. You might be required to work there for two years. Certain there could be earn outs. I mean, there’s all kinds of deal structures that can impact that as well. But I can tell you I can tell you, having done it myself, that the the overarching feeling that you have is for those people that you’re. You’ve just changed the course of their life, right? Because you no longer control it. Tribe, you aren’t as you talked about earlier, right? You you care about those folks and and yet now you’ve put them in somebody else’s hand.

[00:47:09] Team MEMBER Right. Your speech gets folks Keith team. It’s a monumental shift, you know, to to Michael’s point earlier.

[00:47:15] I mean, even in my seat, you know, I like to think that I’m adaptable.

[00:47:20] You know, I’ve always put a lot of time and effort into a kind of a 360 view around my, you know, myself and I I try to do the best by all that I can with that with the decision, with information that I have at hand. But, you know, you don’t know. You know, again, a decade long of being in the hotsy and then come a day and you’re you don’t even know where you fit. Right. Know what’s going. They don’t know either. Right. Just a J-O-B now. I mean, it’s it’s trying to figure everyone’s trying to figure it out. And, you know, they don’t need me for a ton of the things that the they’ll text platform needed before the day to day decision making, the the conjunction with culture. You know, they’re great. They’ve been there and done this longer than than than I’ve even thought about it. So they don’t need me to do certain things. Finding your way within the organization to add value on a day in, day out basis is probably the hardest thing to do. But you have so much more to look at. Yeah, right. So you have so much more opportunity to, you know, have success within the organization and prove that you can align.

[00:48:24] Right. I went through this exact same thing at Georgia. You are all stay all county. Everybody is that goes D1, especially SCC baseball. Right. You walk on the average and you’re being recruited on top of that. So the coach is your best friend all sudden he ain’t picking up your phone calls. Right? I love Coach permadeath, but I was a freshman. Right? Was he will talk to me about. Yeah. So you walk on this field where everybody was all state and everybody was all counting and you finally look around and seventy five percent, that field is better than you are. Just flat better. Yeah. So what are you gonna do? Are you gonna shell up? Are you gonna work hard? Are you gonna work overtime? You know, what are you gonna do at that point to make yourself become what you want to do it in the day? We all have aspirations, right? Everyone, this table got aspirations to do certain things. These are stepping stones to getting the knowledge pieces that you need in order to aspire or to be what you aspire to.

[00:49:19] Well put. So let’s where I wanna wrap up today’s segment. And we’ve already kind of spoken to this a lot. But as succinctly as you can put it, when you think of the do’s and don’ts of a successful deal, it’s a successful exit. A successful acquisition at whatever angle you want to take it, because we have listeners that undoubtedly are building companies to sell. We got listeners that are undoubtedly building our companies to keep within the family for generations to come. And we’ve got listeners that are certainly looking to acquire right for a variety of different organizations to fuel their enterprise growth. So what do you all think are the most important things related to the dos and don’ts of the M&A world? And let’s start with start with Michael.

[00:50:05] Okay. I’m going to give you a I’ll give you two. Yep. One sort of granular in one’s big picture, I’ll start with the big picture.

[00:50:13] Probably half the clients that I represent who are going to go through a transaction, we’ve had a long history with them and I’m part of their team. Who has, you know, for better or worse, they trust us. And then sometimes I’m being hired for the transaction and we don’t have the experience working together. What I’ve observed is that if you have somebody where you have a preexisting, comfortable, trustworthy relationship, it makes the stress of going through that transaction and it will be stressful, much smoother and much less stressful. It’s still going to be stressful. But what I’ve observed about some people is if they don’t have that deep, long tenured relationship with an adviser, whether it’s the accountant, the lawyer, someone in their peer to peer networking group, what happens is they think they can get to the right answer, the best advance advice by triangulating on a bunch of people’s advice.

[00:51:20] And what that does is it creates confusion and delay in making decisions and maybe not even the best decision.

[00:51:27] So the best time to find a primary care doctor is when you’re not okay. Same thing with whoever that advisor is you want to choose. Okay. The other thing that I would say, the single most important thing and Adam alluded to it earlier, which is ninety nine percent of the people that looked at his company wanted to hear about the financials. If he don’t have good accrual based financials, you are going to slow your process down. You are going to hurt your value. You may not even get an offer. No cash basis, you know, doesn’t work. It doesn’t have to be audited. Financials, although having some external review of your financials is key. It does need to be real accrual financials.

[00:52:15] Those are great points. I mean, my first thing is do not try to be a lawyer. I mean, you know, Michael has been in school, whether it’s, you know, an actual school or working at a law firm. His entire life. Right. Right. Why would I try to be a lawyer if he’s on my team? Right. I don’t go over to second base and try to cast a ground ball if I’m plant there.

[00:52:37] You know, that’s just a far away. Even on my watch, all of these these shifts these days, allegedly. Is those. I’m not a fan of the show. You don’t try to play centerfield at third base, does it actually? Exactly. You know, don’t try to be a lawyer.

[00:52:49] There are there are there were key points. I can tell you from personal trainers are key points. When we close the transaction in January that I still don’t understand. I still don’t.

[00:52:58] And entrepreneurs hate not having full control. They want to have all the knowledge power.

[00:53:03] They want to have all the information because they want to make the decision. Just give it up. Right. The law side is not for you. You should spend your time developing the relationship with the individual partner or lawyer that you’re gonna use. You should not spend your time understanding the law. I’m a junkie for learning new things, so I like to go through the contract basis and learn new stuff with it. I found that to be extremely interesting, but I still had points where I was like, Michael, you know, you’ve explained it to me 67 different ways. I still just don’t get it. It’s okay if you feel strongly about it. Then I feel strongly about it. And if you don’t, then I don’t. And where we stand with this, all these key points and transaction, I don’t understand then for the floral either.

[00:53:44] Nobody does or doesn’t. Boy, talk about some playoff game.

[00:53:48] Hey, can I want to go back to something that Michael said that is so important? And you and I have experienced personally, and that is when you’re selecting your advisers, be they lawyers or accountants or whomever, select them knowing what your plans are, because that relationship that you two have and that I had with Larry Street and carlier hard at Morris Manning, that was so important going through that transaction. I knew I knew we were reading each other’s thoughts. Right. And you guys clearly to the same thing. So to the point you were making, I think it’s important for entrepreneurs to know to make that decision early if you have a plan for an exit for your company. Right. Well, and whether you do or not, actually. Right. I mean, fine. Find that person that you connect with and and make them part of your business early on because that level of comfort. Right. That ability to say if you feel strongly about it. I feel strongly about that is so, so important. Yeah, I agree.

[00:54:50] The last thing I was gonna say on the do on the do side. Right, you don’t want to be a lawyer on the do side is do all the things that you know that you need to do anyways. Right. And that’s a broad term, too. To piggyback off of Michael’s comments and sentiments, you know, do get your financials audited. Yes. A minimal investment to make yourself a professional business. You do get a real accounting platform. Right. Real is subjective to whatever industry you’re in. You do get an outside audit team to help not only review the financials, but give you pointers on how you could advance your accounting program. Because accounting is only a thing across all businesses, it stays the same. Yep, that’s why they all the private equity when asked about accounting and financials, because it’s the one thing they can truly understand with anybody’s business. Yeah. There’s different ways to report and things like that. But those are all nuance, right? The law is Lach is much greater and the individual industries are much more. You know, Netsch, when you really get down to the so great you’ve got a cloud based platform in a industry X how is your accounting setup is going to make or break a second even interview. All right. From a private if you don’t have your accounting setup, they’re not gonna call you back and that’s one less buyer. And so always what I’m trying to do is is create leverage.

[00:56:04] Right? More buyers, more leverage, more opportunities. Last thing I’ll say about Michael and all his glory. The best quote he ever gave me was that price is only one factor of value. And I use that with clients all the time. I use that when we sell businesses all the time. It just you if you’re gonna go with the highest price, you’re gonna give on so much more than you really want to. At the end of the day, you’ve got to find that happy medium and you’ve got to define value for yourself. Right? For me, moving to the Redwood platform has allowed me to spend an infinite amount of time with my son. Right. I wasn’t president home as an entrepreneur. Let’s be honest. You’re always thinking of something. My notes on out on the on my iPhone is is ridiculous. Like hundreds of notes. Right. You’re always thinking, hey, let’s try this. Let’s do this. This has allowed me to step back from that and do two things where I really feel like are huge, you know, options for me. And that’s be a great father and be a great husband. And, you know, I don’t have to do a lot of the things I used to have to do. And I’m trying to take advantage of that time. You know, here while also, you know, trying to add value to the organization.

[00:57:15] Outstanding. Yeah, that’s great. We could easily go into second hour here. But but but let’s make sure our listeners, as we wrap up here, can reach out and learn more about both Redwood and a G-G. So let’s start with you, Adam. Sheer Redwood Logistics dot com.

[00:57:31] It’s a newly redesigned Web site. Looks great. Cool. It’s I mean, there’s so many strides being made at this at this place. I guess that just feel really blessed about being a part of it. Some company has some. Check us out anytime. Outstanding. Reaching you? Yeah, personal. You know, I think it’s a McDaniel at Redwood Logistics dot com resume.

[00:57:52] I’m thinking is because we just did the transition with the emails and some const UPS so those can shoot us a note any time in the end. At Supply Chain Now Radio dot com, we’ll make sure it reaches Adam. So Adam McDaniel, outstanding. Really appreciate your time. You bet. Yeah. And Michael, what about you and h.g?

[00:58:10] Same. Our Web site would be the best entry point ajc.com. My contact information is on the Web site.

[00:58:17] Outstanding. Or you can find him on the show on a seemingly regular basis. Yeah. We love having you back. Thank you for having me. You bet. It’s a. You know, I think we know whether you’re entreprenuers, which we can speak from that point of view or supply chain practicioners, we get so wrapped up in the solutions and meeting the problems of the customer. I think a lot of times the business side, especially when you think about risk mitigation and just a structuring and bigger picture opportunities that can can oftentimes be not just second, third, second seat, but way back seat, the old station wagon from the 80s. Right. We’re looking out the back window. And I think having folks like Michael Owen helped bring that back front and center.

[00:59:01] I think, sure, you’ve got to find time to work on the business. I can always be working at it.

[00:59:08] Okay. Adam McDaniel with bread would Logistics Michael Golden with Aren’t Golden Greggory outstanding show here today on a subject matter on topics that we don’t we don’t cover enough. So we’ll look forward to having you all back on and wish you both continued success and growth. All right. So before we wrap up today, for starters, if you if there’s anything we talked about here today that you want to learn more information about or you can’t find it own Google, which you can find just about everything. And then some these days reach out to our CMO at Amanda at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com and we’ll try to track down the information looking for. But also, we want to invite listeners to come check us out in person. Right, Greg? Turns out we’re gonna be going some places where we are going. Oh, the places you’ll go. That’s right. So we’ve got four items on the calendar. We’re gonna shoot through real quick. In fact, we might see Adam and Michael at some of these place together. Our next stop, we’re here, which got back from Austin, Texas, in the lead. The Logistics CFO form part of the E.M.T. Which is now a Reuters event at Credos Them. We’re gonna be here at a home studio throughout the end of the year. But then in January, we’re gonna be at the CSC MPE Atlanta roundtable event January 15th, where they’re featuring someone from HNATH track coming out to talk about somebody regulation changes and how it will impact transbay. Station companies that’s open to the public. And do you have any idea where folks can go to learn more? Greg White. Probably see SCMP, dawg. That is right. That’s the national or the international site, the parent organization. And you can also go to Vetlanta CSC MP dot org. Looking forward to that. And then February and Vegas.

[01:00:49] Well, we hit back at the Vegas Reversal Logistics Association. So we’re gonna be talking about circular economy and returns and reverse Logistics a huge topic, particularly in retail and any commerce. Right.

[01:01:02] Hot. You know, as we talked about it a couple of times. Tony Sciarrotta and Jack Allen, who’s one of the board members. Jack’s with Cisco. They’re both in a studio last week. And you know, this is so interesting. Very few companies like Cisco have it have returns. And in diverse Logistics down, so many outstanding organizations are still trying to filter way through this. If you’re into e-commerce, you’ve got to figure out that side of the business. Right. And that’s what organizations like RLA come in the conference. Next boat, which is our biggest annual event. There are International Group happened to be based here in Atlanta. You can join us in Vegas for that February 4th through 6th conference. Next, boat R L A dot org at the Mirage.

[01:01:46] That’s right. Right. Steve Wynn’s first foray into Vegas. Really? Yeah. Vegas history. My faves. Next podcasts here. All right. And then Moto X coming back to Atlanta and just a few folks going to that.

[01:01:58] Thirty five thousand of your best supply chain friends, neighbors, March 9th through the 12th. And on the 10th during that week, we were very proud that Moto X is hosting our 2020 Atlanta Supply chain Awards. In fact, last year, March twenty nineteen was our first year program. All right. We could have done it without support from the A-G team. So thank you, Michael, once again. I think that’s the 17th time, but we’ve got to have good partners that get that off the ground. And boy, did we sold out. We had over 50 nominations in twelve or so different categories. Had a great keynote last year. We’re trying to go. Not too much bigger as we’ve talked about, Michael. A little bigger and a lot better. And you could I mean, you can’t partner with too much of a bigger organization, Moto X 2020, especially that time of year. Who’s our keynote? Greg Richard Fisher, president and CEO at Georgia-Pacific and our AMC, SHANN Cooper. And if in case you don’t, that incredible one-two punch. Shane Cooper now is exact director of the Atlanta Community of Progress. But prior to that role, she was a senior leader, executive leader of the Lockheed plant. Yeah. And then also chief transformation officer at West Rock.

[01:03:12] So if you like reading books, read her bio. I mean, she has done is impressive.

[01:03:17] So one two punch couldn’t think of a better combination for the 2020 Atlanta Supply chain Awards, March 10th. Nominations are open. I saw the latest one come through this week with Stort, which is an outstanding organization. Might be fun for me restored. They’ve gone through a couple of successful raises as they continue to grow from 17 team members to over 50. They’re gonna be at 60 before year, year end, and I’m sure 20/20 is going to be another big year growth for that team. So GRATs to stored for re-nominated. We’ve added categories start up innovation that our Startup of the Year Innovation Award, manufacture and procurement, you name it. There’s something for you.

[01:03:57] Bright Future Award. That’s my favorite. It isn’t a year about, you know, young people getting into Supply chain. Yes. See, you know. Khan. Yeah. Khan Agarwal was such a great example. We just interviewed him a couple of weeks back working for Dell and in Austin.

[01:04:14] Yes. He graduates Georgia Tech, I’m sure, near top of his class. And then it goes in it into a strategy role with one of the iconic American technology firms, Dell and Texas. Like chain disruptor them. Yeah, right. That’s right. Atlanta Supply chain Awards, WSJ.com, nominations, sponsorships, registrations are all open. And Moad X, by the way, is free to attend. So Motet show dot com MDX show dot com to come out and network with some of the movers and shakers across the supply chain world. And one final note we just added. We’re going to be broadcasting live from the A.M.E. Atlanta 20:20 Lean’s summit might be familiar with A.M.E., the Association for Manufacturing Excellence. They’ve got a big regional event coming up in Atlanta, May 4th through the 7th. So we’ll look forward to that. Man, what do we not tackle today? Nothing.

[01:05:08] We didn’t not tackle nothing. I got a good double negative.

[01:05:13] Well, big thanks to our guests here. Adam McDaniel, Redwood Logistics, Michael Golden with a G-G. Pleasure to knock out another show with my to your Greg White and to our listeners. Be sure to check out other upcoming events. Replays of our interviews, other resources at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com, where can I find this Greg fly?

[01:05:35] They can find us anywhere. Find their podcasts or on YouTube. All right. Including the whirring distracted me. Well, we got we got Logistics out here with the sharks. We’ve got the train.

[01:05:46] We’re surrounded by Logistics world’s busiest airport, which is coming on the show in next month. But check us out. Where you get your podcast from. On behalf of the entire team. This is Scott Luton here, wishing you a wonderful week ahead. And we will see you next time on Supply Chain Now Radio. Thanks for about.