Supply Chain Now
Episode 447

Episode Summary

“I know that I have so much to learn and I want to keep learning. I think by showing that to people they know you’re not walking around with a stick saying, “I know everything,” that you’re, you’re still in the same boat.”

Nicole Glenn, Owner & President of Candor Expedite, Inc.

 

“It’s okay to be a little tough on people because that really means you care you want to draw more out of them. It’s when you stop doing that that you’ve kind of lost faith that they can go any further.”

Trey Griggs, Vice President at Lean Sales

 

For all of the amazing equipment, technology, and processes that make supply chains run, at the end of the day it is the talent, energy, and experience of people that make them amazing. In this podcast, we’re shining a spotlight on two of those amazing people.

Nicole Glenn began her operations career with truckload services, heavyweight partials, linehaul/consolidations, and expedited shipments before starting Candor Expedite with an emphasis on ground expedite service, white-glove, and final mile services. During his nine years in the transportation industry, Trey Griggs has gained experience in several technology sectors, including load boards, rate analytics, TMS systems, visibility solutions, digital freight-matching platforms, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

In this conversation, Nicole and Trey completely open up with Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton and share their amazing experiences between:

· The differences between management, leadership, coaching, role modeling, and mentoring – from the perspective of everyone involved in each interaction

· The progress we have made in business gender diversity and equality, and how we can both promote successful women in business today and raise all of our children to have bright futures

· How amazing people in logistics and transportation handle important issues like revenue generation, sales team optimization, and creating a ‘white glove’ customer experience when it matters most

Episode Transcript

Intro – Amanda Luton (00:00:05):

It’s time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country. Atlanta, Georgia heard around the world, supply chain. Now spotlights the best in all things, supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

Scott Luton (00:00:29):

Good afternoon, Scott Luton. And Jaman with you here on supply chain. Now today’s live stream. Welcome to the show, Jason, how you doing? I’m doing good. How are you? Well, you know, we’ve had so much fun with, uh, your first couple of podcasts on your new series, which we’ll touch on just a minute, but you know, love the spirit and the vibe you bring. And we’ve got an outstanding conversation teed up for today, which we’ll tackle and just we’ll, we’ll tee up in just a second, but this is our new regular weekly live stream or new second when we’re adding to the schedule. So Thursdays at 12 noon, uh, and Jaman, we’re taking a bit of a Baskin Robbins approach. So from week to week, is it going to be a different theme? Some days it may be Rocky road, some days it may be one flavors, 31 flavors, and then some, um, but we’re going to be tackling some different topics each week.

Scott Luton (00:01:24):

Uh, this episode here are, uh, lead off episode. It’s all about some of the great people in the world of logistics and transportation, right? Oh, yes. And that there are so many, so just like, like you said, this is just but two of them, but, uh, two very special ones. So I’m excited for everyone to, to meet them. And even if people already know them to maybe learn some different things, to see a different side of them that they hadn’t seen before. Absolutely. And we’re going to work hard to make that happen as well as to increase our audiences, supply chain IQ, always one of our main goals here. Alright, real quick. Uh, and hello, Stephan. Great to have you with your ears may have been burning. We were talking about Dallas and Texas earlier. Uh, Kristin. Hello from Peru. Great to have you joined us via LinkedIn.

Scott Luton (00:02:13):

Um, all right. So Jamie real quick before bringing our guests tell us about this, this new series that the Jayman logistics and transportation experience. Yes. So it is, um, on the, the great supply chain now platform. And I’m really grateful to be, be a part of the squad, the team learning a lot from everyone. And the series is this podcast series, supply chain, logistics and transportation specifically, which has been my world for the last 15, 16 years. There’s a lot of neat things happening right now in freight tech or just the freight world in general, uh, autonomous vehicles coming into to transportation. There’s a lot going on with that. There’s a lot of disruption also for reasons we’re all aware of. Don’t need to spend much time on that. Um, so we kind of can go either way right now with all this disruption and new things coming in, that can be very scary and hard to, to, uh, adapt with, or it can be the best thing ever.

Scott Luton (00:03:19):

And I think for it to be the best thing ever, we, uh, can come together. There’s so many great people in our industry. And so this podcast will highlight those great people and the way they think and the way they operate and what’s allowed them through their careers to adapt into thrive so that frankly we can copy them. We can learn from each other. Um, and, uh, you know, along along the way of learning, uh, would be waiting to see maybe a different side of people in our industry, um, so that we can connect with them best. So that’s what I’m really hoping to, to showcase and create a platform for just the amazing people in our industry, uh, to, uh, share their mindset with us and we can copy them, love it, adapt and thrive, adapt,

Scott Luton (00:04:07):

Thrive, picking up best practices, uh, whether it’s two leaders that we’ll have on the show

Scott Luton (00:04:12):

Today, or some of these feature podcasts you’ll be releasing,

Scott Luton (00:04:15):

Uh, Hey, real quick, let’s say load a bunch of folks logging in now, Tim Ingram, he says good day, fellow loggies, uh, logisticians maybe. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:04:23):

Tim. Great to have you here.

Scott Luton (00:04:25):

A Sophia Sophia is with us

Scott Luton (00:04:27):

Sophia. Great. Um, right up on the webinar from yesterday. I really appreciate you sharing that in the supply chain now insiders, we had a great webinar on,

Scott Luton (00:04:36):

Uh, post pandemic.

Scott Luton (00:04:38):

It’s watching the environment, especially from a procurement and sourcing standpoint, so great stuff.

Scott Luton (00:04:42):

There’s Sophia Pat. Hello from Kansas city. So Pat, Pat might know

Scott Luton (00:04:47):

Trey, one of our guests here who knows maybe another, another chief’s fan. Uh, let’s see. Shukui hello from LinkedIn. Great to have you here. Gada great to have you via LinkedIn as well and Johann, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. Okay. One final, uh, programming note and we’re going to bring the coal and Trey on is if you enjoy today’s live stream, check out our podcasts, uh, wherever you get your podcasts from today, we publish, uh, Hey look, I’m partial, but it was an awesome interview with Rick. [inaudible] found a presidency with CSC MP,

Scott Luton (00:05:21):

And I’ll tell ya. I thought I was passionate about supply chain. He blew me and Greg off the map. I mean, just

Scott Luton (00:05:28):

Really on point thought leadership about a global industry.

Scott Luton (00:05:33):

It’s no, no wonder why I see a CMP is, is on the move

Scott Luton (00:05:37):

That they are. So check that out wherever you get your podcasts from Rick [inaudible] president CEO with CSC does a great job. All right. A couple of other quick hellos, uh, Jasmine, uh, great to have you here via LinkedIn Jose, uh, via LinkedIn. Great to have you here, Chris jolly, uh, the freight podcast. Great. Have you here, Chris? Uh, again, uh, after joining us on the buzz as well. All right. So let’s bring in our two featured guests. Jamie, really excited about having, uh, Nicole Glynn owner of candor expedite with us as well as Trey Griggs, vice president with lean sales, the vision of lean staffing solutions.

Scott Luton (00:06:20):

Hey, good afternoon, Nicole and Trey. Thanks for having us going to be here. Thanks for joining us. We’ve been, we’re excited to have you, uh, Jamie has got some, some tough questions for you, both and to our audience. Hey, you’ll hear the questions that Jamie poses to Nicole and Trey would love to have y’all weigh in as well, make this a really, uh, a fun interactive conversation with a couple of hundred people sitting around the kitchen table, talking about supply chain. So Jameson with no further ado, I’m gonna let you dive right in. I love, I love how you put that Scott around the kitchen table. I liked that. Um, and I will, maybe this is a little too behind the scenes, but you coach me up real well. Scott is, I was a little nervous, you know, starting to do lives and all this, but you, you shared something with me that, uh, I want to lean on. Thank the audience that’s watching and invite participation because as you put it, Scott, that’s really the third guest. So these questions are truly meant for, for everybody, not just, uh, Nicole and Trey. Um, but while I’m super pumped to hear what they got to say. So yeah. Throw, throw some comments and like Pat already. Thanks Pat.

Scott Luton (00:07:34):

All right. So we’ve got the 20 questions teed up, uh, where we start in Jaman we’re, let’s start, uh, from the childhood. So let’s go. What was your favorite toy as a kid? And we’ll start with you, Nicole.

Nicole Glenn (00:07:49):

This was a hard one thinking about this, you know, cause I remember back in the day when Nintendo was the cool thing. So I was part of that era and very lucky when the super Mario three game came out, I remember my mom purchased it. I saw it and I was like, can we play that today? She’s like, no, holiday’s not until this day. So she was kinda like teasing us. So Nintendo was a huge, huge factor of really my brother and sister, all of us getting together and playing little different. We had a, the lockdown, you know, it’s not like today with kids where that your whole day there, but you know, when you came home at night and kind of had that settled down time, we were all tech, mobile supermarket have to call it out as

Scott Luton (00:08:39):

I was a big duck hunt guy. Oh yeah. Love duck hunt. Yeah. Trey. How about you? You were a duck hunt guy because that was the game that came with the system. So everybody played that.

Nicole Glenn (00:08:52):

I went back a little further than Nicole. I wasn’t a video gamer. I was always out

Scott Luton (00:08:56):

Like playing basketball or some sports or something like that. But I actually thought back to, do you guys remember those three wheelers? It was like plastic three wheelers that were the pedals on the front and the brake. And you could like go fast and whip it to the right and with the break and see a slide around. I was, that was like my favorite toy for, for a long time. And that goes way back. Of course. I mean, I stopped riding when I was about 12, but it was, it was fun at that point it was a big deal. Yeah. I was trying to think of their name and I’m like, what was the name of that thing? But I remembered it like it was yesterday, you know, just whipping it around and cranking that break, you know? So hang on a sec, hang up a tray. You rode that until you’re 12 years old that I was small. I was small enough. I was a pretty small kid. I could have probably written it till I was 12, but I gave that up probably, you know, elementary school that wasn’t cool anymore. Right.

Scott Luton (00:09:46):

That’s great. We got any, uh, any fun, uh, fun toys, uh, in the comments. So like you, Trey, Keith Duckworth was a big fan of the big wheel. You know, there was a, uh, an Andre says hello from Miami grit, heavy here with Andres, you know that there was a specific big wheel called the Sidewinder. I don’t know if y’all remember this there’s I knew it was a thousand of them and you’d pull the handle or one of the handles and you could move a little bit laterally. So I totally got Jeff. I missed out. I promise. Yeah. Hey, I’m not a big wheel, uh, officiant auto, but that was one that stuck out. And, and Nicole, I love how you called out tech mobile for sports buffs. That was an all time classic, the original.

Nicole Glenn (00:10:35):

It was always like Willy goal, you know, like always this Walter Peyton. So, I mean, this is back in the day, Metro. I don’t know if you guys ever played any of those games, but I would just nerd out and

Scott Luton (00:10:49):

Classics. Yeah. All right. So we’ll, we’ll keep it rolling. Where, uh, before we get into the real meat and potatoes of the, uh, information, we’ll give another, a little softball from childhood here. What was your favorite meal? Not, not now, but as a kid. And we’ll start with you, Nicole, what was your favorite meal as a kid?

Nicole Glenn (00:11:06):

Do you know how kids nowadays can get fast food and it just becomes it’s whatever it’s kind of like your parents normally do that for you. We only got fast food when it was like a special occasion. So when we went to McDonald’s and I got to have chicken McNuggets, but life was amazing. You know, it’s not like today where they have all these opportunity to go here and here and here. I mean, we ate dinner at home really five nights a week. Well, I should take that back seven nights a week,

Scott Luton (00:11:38):

Seven nights a week. Yeah. It was

Nicole Glenn (00:11:41):

A rare occasion that we got to do that, but I do have to give props. I have a Sicilian mother, so she is now tainted me on Italian food. I can’t eat it anywhere else. She can cook

Nicole Glenn (00:11:54):

Chicken cook. So her spaghetti, if I’m going to say anything, is her gravy going with the phrasing? Ultimately that’s good. Yeah. Yeah. You can’t I’m tainted. Alright. How about you, Trey? Yeah. So for me, this is going to sound really plain, but I got to get a story to go with it and it was hot dogs. And let me tell you why that is. Um, my, my parents divorced my seven. I actually live with my dad and he was a single dad. He drove a 20 foot box truck around the city, the local truck driver. Um, and he would come home every night and he would cook me a hot meal, but my dad’s specialty was this. He could make about five different meals using a hot dog and they were all unique. So, you know, we had something called a Texas hot dog. If you’ve never had that, you know, you take a hot dog, you cut it down the middle, but you leave the ends attached, squeeze it together to form a circle, fill it with mashed potatoes, put some cheese on top, put in the microwave to melt it.

Nicole Glenn (00:12:47):

And it looks like a cowboy hat. My dad was tremendous at coming up with these different recipes with a hot dog. And so, as I thought back to that, honestly, I mean, it’s kind of lame, but you know, I miss those meals. Those are, those are good meals. Good times. My dad, Hey, Mark asked, can he place an order with us between the Coles at Italian food and trays, Texas. I Mark, Hey Mark. I can cook you up some Texas hot dog, man. We just gotta get in there. Same room. We still have a basketball game to play and we can eat those hot dogs. Absolutely. I will say now that I’ve moved to Texas, I’ve missed a lot of Chicago food. My parents are in Chicago. So now I am a fan of having the cooler packed with moms spaghetti. Limonadi’s pizza, some Portillo’s beef. So many Mark. We can make that happen. As long as you can accept a cooler delivery. We have a sweet tooth in the group as well. So Sophia, Sophia. She is my girl. Yes, peanut butter, chocolate and peanut butter truly is the best combination in the world. I mean the second only to chocolate admit in my opinion. So Sophie I’m with you on that in the freezer, Sophia in the freezer does make them better.

Nicole Glenn (00:14:01):

Alright. So when let’s, uh, now we’re going to advance a little bit now let’s think teenage years, is there a lesson you learned in your teenage years that you find yourself throughout your logistics and transportation career referring back to, uh, that was impactful to you? Uh, Trey, why don’t you, uh, share that with us? Yeah. You know, probably this is kind of an embarrassing story, but it had such a huge impact. Um, my junior year I got to move up to the varsity basketball team. We had nine seniors the previous year. So the JV essentially got bumped up to varsity and we were horrible. I mean, we were terrible. We started seats. No, in five, we were losing the teams that had no right. You know, beating us as a program. We had a very established program. So one day in practice, um, coach was just Ryan and me.

Nicole Glenn (00:14:44):

I mean, he was like a Bobby Knight, you know, personality. So he was riding in practice. And I literally, like, I reached my breaking point and I started crying and there’s nothing worse than being a junior in high school, crying at basketball practice. I mean, that’s just, that’s it, that’s the end game right there. So he sent me off to the side and you know, the whole practice, I just, you know, kind of just lamented, I guess the whole thing after practice, he brought me down into his office and he said, Trey, he goes, why do I, why do I yell at you? Why do I, why do I get on your case? And I’m like, I don’t know, codes, you know, I’m crying. And then he started naming these other guys on the team and he said, do I get on him? I said, no.

Nicole Glenn (00:15:17):

And he goes, do I get on him? No. And he goes, listen, they’ve reached their full potential minds, but you have so much more. And I got to draw it out. And he goes, the day you need to be concerned about is the day that I stop writing you the day that I stopped, you know, getting on your case. And it just changed my perspective on accepting coaching and on people who believe in me. And even though it comes in different ways and you know, yelling is kind of out of, it’s kind of football. Now, people don’t do that anymore. But the idea that somebody would pour into me because they believed in me was really powerful. So now I look for those people who believe in me, who will pour into me cause that’s gonna make me better. And now that I’m getting a little older, I’m kind of returning the favor and finding those people that I can pour into. And it’s okay to be a little tough on people because that really means you care. And you want to draw more out of them. It’s when you stop doing that, that you’ve kind of lost faith that they can go any further. And so that was a, that was a big lesson for me in high school.

Scott Luton (00:16:11):

Hey, if I can weigh in real quick, Jamie, before we, uh, get Nicole’s tape, first off, Greg white is in the audience. He’s our, our resident chief’s fan here at supply chain now. So he’s giving some shout outs,

Nicole Glenn (00:16:22):

Right?

Scott Luton (00:16:25):

Hey Trey, the other quick question and get your, your reader’s digest answer to his coaching. You mentioned Bobby, not Bobby Knight throwback type of style. Coaching goes far beyond sports. I mean, it certainly applies and is, is alive and well in the business world. What’s one thing that you think has had to change about coaching to be, to be more effective in 2020 with the landscape.

Nicole Glenn (00:16:49):

Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, honestly I think social media has had a huge impact in many facets, but it’s just created transparency. It’s created kind of this openness. And so a lot of those things that maybe those techniques that happened in the, you know, in the gym when no one was watching to get the most like, like in high school, we used to get paddled at the end of practice with, with a wood racquetball paddle Jamen. I know you still listen. Here’s how it works. We all would get in line on the free throw line. All right. We had to shoot a one Oh one. We had to make boats. If we made the first misses second, we got one swab. I had to go to the back of the line. If we miss the first, we got two squats, I’d go to the back of the line. You didn’t get to leave practice. So you made two, well, guess what, we were good free throw shooters right now is not gonna happen today because of the transparency. I think that social media has created and the, the, the, you know, having a video on hand that everybody’s got the ability to record a video. So it’s changed. I think the way that coaching has to be done, but I guess to put it in short, it’s become much more, um, I think empathetic and personal, as opposed to

Jamin Alvidrez (00:17:50):

When, when, when, and hard-nose, I still think that you can be hard nose, but there’s gotta be more of a relationship now because people are going to see everything. And they really, I mean, I knew that my coach cared for me. I knew that he would do anything for me. And we played for him because we believe that about him. He had built that relationship on the outside. People didn’t see that. So I think it’s just how to become much more relationship oriented. And just because of the transparency factor, just cleaner, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we were good free throw shooters. I can tell you that. I bet I’d like to elaborate on my thoughts with that question too. Um, I think now with actually social media, having the capabilities of us, of continually learning, whether it’s a show like this or our favorite authors that are talking about leadership available, it’s, it’s constantly available.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:18:39):

I mean, I don’t know if you guys scroll through your LinkedIn and what you see so many great quotes and concepts on empathy, emotional intelligence. Um, some of my favorite writers like John C. Maxwell used to just be a book and I’d have to say, I’m reading this book and now I can it’s it’s everywhere. And so I think people are starting to really see and understand what it is to be an empathetic leader and how to do that. I mean, Simon Sinek is putting it out there on how to treat your people, you know, 10 years ago that wasn’t in your face as a business leader. You know, you just went with your gut and you do what you, you learn from maybe previous mentors. But now it’s just a constant learning phase. And I think it’s making business leaders a lot better. Hey, can I, can I, can I throw one more thing on that, Nicole?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:19:27):

I think that’s a great point. And it’s interesting to me because when we were in high school and college, you always have a coach. You know, if you’re playing a sport, if you’re learning an instrument or if you’re in debate, you always have a coach who’s helping along the way. And then we graduate and it’s like, we don’t need a coach anymore. And I think that’s the prevalent philosophy among businesses and organizations among leaders and among people. And I think that that’s starting to shift where you have these resources available and people are going, you know, wait, I can make myself better. And organizations are saying, Hey, if I invest in coaching for my people, I’m going to get more out of them, especially when I don’t have time to do that. Um, and they’re starting to put an emphasis on that. And I love to see that because you look at LeBron James, he’s got a shooting coach. You look at, you know, um, Tom Brady, he’s had a throwing coach. These are the guys, the best of the best tiger woods has a swing coach. These people know how to do it better than anybody on the planet. And they still have a coach. And so it’s incredibly valuable and it’s exciting to have these resources just available. There’s really no excuse anymore. Not to get better. Yeah. Great. Yeah, we’ll put

Scott Luton (00:20:25):

Real quick. So Pat love the empathy word. Nicole Love that you bring that up and I don’t mean it’s not a word it’s it’s action, right? You put it in action. Pat says empathy is huge, is huge in every business, but particularly our industry we’ll put there. And Greg white mentioned something, especially at the tail end where he kinda, he kinda switches things around and challenges folks to have empathy

Scott Luton (00:20:48):

For other folks management and leadership style. I think that’s a really interesting unique take some I hadn’t really thought about as much. And then one final comment and we’ll keep driving here. Jaman Keith Duckworth says a great basketball coach is the late great John wooden set the bar high, expect the players to reach it and give them respect along the way we’ll put there, Keith. Yes. So anytime we’re bringing in a John wooden quote, I’m all in. Yes, that’s right. I mean, I mean, who teaches their players, how to put their socks on and tie their shoes as a basketball coach and, uh, he just the attention to detail and doing everything right. And, uh, and then I loved watching him in games cause he just literally sat there and watched the game. He didn’t coach. I think the only person who’s done that recently is Mike Shashefski in 2001, he said he sat and he would literally only coach about five to 10 minutes of the game because they did such a good job of preparation and practice. That’s pretty impressive. That is impressive. All right, Nicole, you’re, you’re not, you’re not off the hook. Uh, so yeah. What, uh, what’s a lesson that you could share with us that you learned that you find you reflect back on often?

Nicole Glenn (00:21:54):

Well, I was a weird child when I say, I should say teenager, um, work has always been something that has been important to me at the age of 17. I had two jobs and, you know, got through high school sooner, had my day and, and I went to work and so work, work, work that ethic has, I don’t know where it came from. It just was there. And so I was always the youngest person, you know, I’m a 16 year old kid working with my store manager. I was worked in retail. Um, and the, this woman who was my leader at the time, she saw some of these qualities in me that I didn’t, I didn’t understand. I was just there to collect my five 50 an hour. And, uh, maybe, you know, she would ask me questions on how I would think that things should be done.

Nicole Glenn (00:22:43):

Um, so I started doing like planigram resets and going to the store at 5:00 AM and it’s age didn’t matter, you know, age, wasn’t a part of the, the equation. She was just willing to take the time. And she noticed that I would put in the initiative to, to ask those questions and do things. So when I have people come to my company to start working and work for, for us, you know, no question is silly. They’re, they’re able to speak their mind and, and try to learn. And you know, I get it all the time. Hey, quick question for you. Quick question. And so it’s just one of those things where you, you learn to embrace people differently, you know, and regardless if they’ve been in supply chain and logistics for 20 years, or they’re new to it, um, just embrace your people and lift them to the next and they’ll take that initiative them. They’re not afraid to go. I might mess up here because they know if they do their learning and their leader support that.

Scott Luton (00:23:40):

Wow. Hey, real quick. Graman do you want to challenge our audience, say, Hey, share with us.

Scott Luton (00:23:46):

I mean, you’ve heard Trey and Nicole weigh in on, on, uh, Eureka moments early in their career and, uh, leadership, uh, takeaways, Joel, chime in and tell us what works. Uh, and you know, what really stands out in your journey. So Jaman,

Jamin Alvidrez (00:24:01):

Hey Scott, you know, what’s interesting is Nicole and I both referenced stories from when we were 16 years old. It’s such a formative time, maybe for the parents out there, if your kids are like 14 and they’re like, you know, think they know everything. There’s still hope that they can get that moment. That’s such a great point. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:24:19):

Cause w Nicole, what I really liked about that chapter in your life is how you’re, whoever you worked for was, was, um, letting you be more responsible for things. And they weren’t just giving you one little task here, one little task there. They were entrusting you, which I bet was a huge boon in your,

Jamin Alvidrez (00:24:38):

Um, you, you know, you’re learning, right? It does. It lets you understand when you’re, you’re making mistakes or you’re doing things that it’s all for a purpose and you you’re able to push forward with that. So it was very impactful for me. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:24:54):

I’ve heard a lot of feedback around, um, whether it’s it’s new employees or whether it’s interns and uh, some of the, uh, it seems like some of the prevalent advice is, Hey, don’t just bring on interns in, trust them with something that’s important to the business and let them, you know, take the ball and run with it. And I think in this day and age where risk management risk mitigation is, of course it’s important, but so you gotta, you gotta give these folks meaningful work, right?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:25:21):

Yeah. Gotta be an incubator for them to learn on the job and have people who would oversee that and help them along the way to learn those lessons. But it’s so powerful when somebody says, Hey, we need this done. I trust you to do it. Go do it, let me know what you figure out. Let me know what you find out. Let’s talk about it later. It’s empowering. Love it, love it. That really is. How do you, uh, this question for either of you I’ve seen before and this will happen and you know, running on brokerage floors at different places where we’ll see potential and nurture someone just getting into the business, a younger person, not maybe literally by age, but even to the business, but then you’re five. Maybe you’re 10. How do you keep your people or even yourselves in that growth mindset and not like, Hey, I know this business now and just sort of shut it down and coast Nicole, that was for you. I was like, it’s big one. Well, I mean, it really depends too, because there are some people that you see as a manager or as a leader that are really just there to work and there’s nothing wrong with having those people that don’t want to, you know, go outside of the scope or things out of their, their comfort sounds. You still offer those types of things to them. But I think all of us see it. I mean, we see it in children’s eyes. Employee’s eyes, friends, eyes when they’re looking at with this

Nicole Glenn (00:26:44):

Questionable sense, you know, and usually when you notice someone like that, even early in their journey, I haven’t had it where they’ve really lost that, you know, because it’s kind of a characteristic where people are like, okay, I want to do this. And you can just see those traits and that, that constant, how do I improve? And what do I do? And I think those people’s leaders tend to kind of cling to a little bit and try to continually coach a little bit more. And so for me, I know that I have so much to learn, um, and I want to keep learning. And I think by showing that to people and, and actually leading a company or being a manager to a company and they know that you’re not walking around with that stick saying, I know everything, you know, and that you’re, you’re still in that same boat. Um, I think it, it opens up the environment and it’s, it sets an aura that you’re you’re into that. And I think people will respond to that if that’s what they want to. But I think it’s okay if there are people that are not constantly striving, you have to help them along. But you know, you just see that little glimmer sometimes with people.

Scott Luton (00:27:54):

Yeah. Curiosity that childlike curiosity.

Nicole Glenn (00:27:57):

Yeah. Yeah. They could any age

Scott Luton (00:27:59):

I would actually do that. I don’t think also vision is so important to keep moving the goalposts in a way. And I mean, not in a positive way, not in a negative way, but you know, it’s like if you’re teaching a kid to climb a mountain, you don’t take him to the mountains first and say, let’s climb it. And you say, let’s climb these rocks right here. And then let’s take another path and a little higher. And you’re constantly kind of pushing that goal line that, that end zone. And I think even with people that have been with the organization for five to 10 years, you can still go to another place no matter where you are. But as a leader, you have to cast that vision and hold on to that vision and then, and, you know, set the wise for that, but get them to buy into that.

Scott Luton (00:28:33):

So there’s always something to work towards and keep moving towards something greater to achieve. And I think that’s how you keep people engaged. Love that, love that art. So let’s take a few comments from the audience here. So lucky via LinkedIn says, Hey, Nicole Wilson said in South America, I believe it’s quite different. A majority of old people are intermediate by us, upcoming youth. They don’t want to learn and improve their skills. Interesting perspective from lucky there. Uh, Sophia says, that’s the key knowing the reason behind what you’re doing, having a purpose. And Nicole, I know you mentioned Simon Sinek, uh, infamous, uh, knowing the why. Um, and then I also want to share two others real quick here. So Amanda weighs in talking about her greatest leadership lesson was from her cheerleading coach around 16 years old, too. So only 16 years old and fresh and more time, you know, it’s a big time. She challenged us to do more than what we thought we could and believed in us, inspired us, punished us when we deserved it and fought with us as we were fighting to improve. And when she still remembers the competition cheer routine, I know she does. Alright. One final comment comes from Pat.

Scott Luton (00:29:42):

Pat says he started working at a beer distributor when he was 18. I learned there to take pride in what you do. The warehouse workers I work with took tremendous pride in what they did, even though it wasn’t the most glamorous job. And that always instilled in me to do, to do so as well and whatever, uh, that he was doing. Great. Great, great, uh, sentiment there, Pat. And you know what, one of the things I love about Pat’s response there, whether it’s in a warehouse environment or manufacturing plant, or distribution facility, you name it is the salt of their, of people or that you go to the gemba. And I mean, those are the great people that we all stand on. The shoulders of that keep, you know, in the end supply chain, moving forward business, moving forward. And, and that’s, that’s been one of my favorite aspects of my journey.

Nicole Glenn (00:30:30):

Absolutely agree with that. It’s like we were saying at the outset, it’s all about the people we’re very fortunate to be in, to be in this business with so many great people

Scott Luton (00:30:40):

Agree, Jamie, one quick clarification. It wasn’t South America. My apologies. Lucky it was South Africa. And I should have known that because as lucky came on, he mentioned that. So my apologies. Lucky. Alright, so Jamie, we’re going to keep driving go right ahead.

Nicole Glenn (00:30:53):

Yeah. Uh, so how very simple, how did you get it?

Scott Luton (00:30:57):

Logistics and transportation. No one does this on purpose

Nicole Glenn (00:31:01):

Right now. Thank you now. Yeah. All right. So, um, it’s funny. My dad was a local city truck driver, but I really didn’t know anything about transportation and logistics. I didn’t even really understand much about what he didn’t even know. I spent my summers riding in this cab, um, and throwing the racquetball against the warehouses as a kid, which was a good memory. But the way that I got into is I started my career as a teacher. I was a high school physics teacher taught a high school calculus and did a little middle school teaching and there as well. I did some youth ministry as well. And, um, you know, as we started to transition our family, uh, I realized that one teacher income wasn’t going to make it. We wanted my wife to be a homemaker. That’s what she wanted to do. And so the teaching gig kind of ran its course and I had to find something else.

Nicole Glenn (00:31:46):

I had a friend say, Hey, I think you should get into sales. I think you have the personality for it. I think you would do well. You’re competitive. So I try to get into sales. I’ve finally found a job doing door to door, office, supply sales in Portland, Oregon of all places where it rains six months a year. And that’s a whole nother story for another day. But I did that for 15 months. I figured it out. I cut my teeth. I learned a lot about sales and being able to talk to anybody and relate to people. And then I went for a real sales job, you know, one that had a base plus commission, not just commission only. And I went to a recruiter because I didn’t know how to do it. And that recruiter just happened to have a connection with dat solutions in Portland, Oregon company.

Nicole Glenn (00:32:21):

I didn’t know anything about an industry that I didn’t even know existed. I mean, I always go to Walmart and buy my toilet paper and my, you know, my, my food, but how did it get there? I never really thought about that until I started working in dat and learned about this industry of freight brokers and truckload carriers and all of that. And it took me a while to kind of wrap my head around, you know, everything that worked out. But that’s basically how I got in was an opportunity to become a sales rep in dat and, uh, and just enjoy the industry and found out that there’s a great people in this industry. That it’s a very stable industry. I mean, no matter what’s happening in the economy, people still need to go buy groceries from the grocery store and they have to get there somehow. So it’s a fabulous industry to be in, but that was kind of my quick story of how I got in was just through a recruiter that happened to, I mean, if they had a connection with Nike, that’d be where I’d be in the apparel industry right now, more than likely. I like that. Yeah. Cool. How about for you?

Nicole Glenn (00:33:09):

Well, I was a kid. I was 18 and I got recruited. Um, this guy came into one of the retail stores that I was working and he offered me a job and I went, who does that? You know, but, uh, I actually was one of those parts, those little ADP, uh, delivery parts scales with the little Ford ranger truck for automotive retail. Yeah. And used to work the parts counter at a retail store. And, uh, he offered me this job cause I remembered a weird fact about his order. So I did the whole, like let’s drive to this business card address at night, looking in the window and I’m like, okay, this looks, this looks legit. And so I just made the call and it actually became my day job. And I was in college at night. And, uh, it was a really cool experience.

Nicole Glenn (00:33:57):

I think I’ve been kind of telling the story a little bit more recently, but uh, he basically made me put a headset on and the split microphone and the, and the mute. And he legitimately trained me on how to listen to people and how to pull out what they were saying without what they were saying. It would be a pause. It would be a sigh. And I was training to be a broker, you know? So it was like, Oh, your customer’s calling, it’s four o’clock hold on. They need you. So this, this really, really intense training. That was awesome for me. And then I got to happen to a different company after that and really see the truck driving side. I had owner operators that would, uh, work work. I would get their back hauls. And so, I mean, it was, it was full force, you know, they’d call me like, why aren’t you moving my truck? I’m like beginning. And it really showed me relationships because that’s, we didn’t have like, you know, Trey, how you’re saying that the dat, the dat was a daily printout that came to our fax machine. All I did was, uh, stuff for the dads. So it was all about relationships at that time.

Nicole Glenn (00:35:16):

Yeah. Hmm. Wow. Yeah, that I with, with both of you, I just hear so much, it just keeps resonating in a lot of your answers about training and being coached up and having people believe in you and pushing you. I just, I really want to keep, keep, uh, keep that with me. Cause that’s really standing out quick comment from the audience here. Uh, Stephan says he always has the highest

Scott Luton (00:35:38):

Respect for people going to school and working. I only did this during my MBA rewarding, but no life, just school work, study, sleep, and all over again, rinse and repeat get stuff there from Stephen. Uh, Nicole, can I ask you a question and, and, um, uh, we didn’t talk about this in the warm up, but yeah. As, as a woman owned business, uh, in the logistics and supply chain industry, uh, there was a report that came out not too long. Gardner put out there was talking about, um, representation that at the chief, at the senior levels and, and we got a lot more work to do to really provide opportunities for all. Um, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but to put you on spot a little bit, how any, any insight you can share in terms of how we can make sure that we’re, that we’re really, uh, inviting all types of folks from all different walks of life to come into the industry or a different question of if you’d rather the second one, how can we make sure we have advancement opportunities for all? Any, any comments there?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:36:36):

Well, I mean, it’s just really looking at the individuals that are coming in and trying to nurture that I might be the wrong person to answer this question. I know I’m a female, but I’ve never felt that things have been put against me and what I’ve done. And what I mean by that is maybe I’ve put the blinders on and not let that affect me. So if I have a male and a female candidate, I’m going to actually try to go with the best candidate regardless of gender. I think that’s what we need to do. I think we need to almost stop putting sets such an onus on some of these things and truly pick who the best candidate is. Or if there is a female that’s good for a role that needs some coaching, put her in that, in that spot and give her that chance.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:37:22):

You know, and I think that’s where I’ve been very fortunate is it didn’t matter if I was a younger female, a female, a whatever. And that’s really what made me Excel was I didn’t feel any different than the men that I was working next to. You know, I think if you make that your mindset, that’s where you can get some limitations, love that I’d like to add to this too. If I could please, I think it’s a snowball effect that it’s just going to continue as we move along. If we do the right things as a dad of two daughters, you know, I want there to be opportunity when, when they’re ready to do that. My, my oldest daughter is very entrepreneur. She’s always trying to figure out how to make money, whether it be a lemonade stand or she likes the big thing she likes to babysit.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:38:02):

So she’s already thinking that way. And so as a dad, I’m thinking, how can I foster that? And one is it’s encouraging her that she can do anything that she wants to do and just continue to push that message. But to, and I think this is most powerful is to find successful women in business that I can, I can push her towards that. I can have her spend time with as a role model, because as much as she loves me as much as we have a great relationship and we’re going to walk different paths in life, just because of that fact. But if she can connect with somebody like Nicole, somebody like, you know, Lindsey graves at, uh, at sunset, he’s a good friend of mine and other incredibly successful in our industry and other industries, that’s going to give her a vision for what it can be. And then she’ll have that, those blinders like Nicole, that says, I want this, I’m going to go do it. And nothing’s going to stop me as a dad. It’s a part of putting that vision and getting the right context for, I think even I have a 15 year old and it’s just letting her know that he is absolutely no different. Her, her opportunities should be no less and just go get whatever you want and don’t let that stop you. It doesn’t matter gender or anything just feels right.

Scott Luton (00:39:05):

Well, we hear a lot about as, as we, as we dive into this, these topics and the conversations that we’re part of is, um, it’s so important to have role models. And so folks can, can see what is the art of the possible. And, and not just as we all know, it’s not just male, female, there’s all sorts of walks of life. Right. And so, um, Nicole, I really appreciate the role model you are being and, and, and kind of what you just put it there. You’re just gonna put, you know, full speed ahead and break through any obstacles and what you may or may not know, but I’m sure of it are folks are watching you and, and you’re inspiring others to, to tell them they can do the same thing. And it’s so important. So I, I appreciate your you and Trey sentiment there.

Scott Luton (00:39:51):

Um, as we, you know, try to solve the workforce, uh, it’s going to be, you know, the trillion dollar question workforce here across supply chain. All right. So, uh, Jaman actually, uh, hang on one second. Greg has an interesting, I think he liked what was shared there too. So Greg says, put the blinders on what a great strategy press through, make it happen. No doubt there is bias, but I have three strong daughters that refuse to be limited by it. Yep. Excellent. There, Greg. And, uh, Amanda mentioned earlier how mentoring is so important for women in particular, so good stuff there, Amanda. All right. So Damon getting us back on track. What’s next?

Scott Luton (00:40:30):

You know, let’s, uh, Amanda brings up a great point, uh, mentoring summit. Let’s, uh, let’s give you a chance to maybe not talk about yourself for a minute. Sometimes it’s not always, it’s better to brag on other people who are some, uh, mentors, and it doesn’t have to be, uh work-related if you will, who are some mentors throughout your life that you’d like to brag on and, and have really helped shape, um, you know, what’s made you successful today. Let’s start with you, Nicole.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:41:00):

This is a tough one because there’s so many people, you know, um, I attribute so many things to my parents, to my grandparents that have taught me how to keep things simple, be humble. Um, keep working hard to my best friend who tries to keep me to have that humanitarian, uh, side of me. And she, she brings me back down to understand some of that, where, when I lose some of that, sometimes, um, my children, I mean, I can keep going on and odd different authors, you know, having conversations even with UJ,

Nicole Glenn (00:41:34):

Man, you know, when we first met, uh, in March and we were talking about how we were pressing forward with this concept of educating people. And it’s just, it’s so many, even small conversations throughout really your entire life on people who plant seeds. Some people who plant seeds on things you don’t want to do. I’ve had those, uh, mentors as well. I call my cross, buy my reverse mentoring people, but then some people that I’ve worked for, you know, they’ve gave me some tough love and, um, tried to challenge me. But I mean, my answers are just so many different.

Nicole Glenn (00:42:15):

I really appreciate that point though, both in diversity of mentors and you highlighted even small conversations, you have a huge impact. So that’s a good reminder for us that even sometimes our small words of encouragement or advice, we don’t know how those seeds will, will blossom, uh, down the road for somebody. I, I really like how you put that. We’ll put, how about you, Trey? Yeah. Well, my answer’s going to be somewhat similar, but I’m going to give a few shout outs. I mean, it’s, it’s a lot of people that have helped me become who I am, um, and will continue to be that way. At, first of all, my wife, who is my best friend and my partner, I’ve known her for longer than, uh, uh, or more than half of my life. And so, uh, she’s my exact opposite. And so she helps me see the world differently and push me to be better and see things from new perspectives.

Nicole Glenn (00:43:02):

And there’s just always been a huge support. And, uh, the career moves that I’ve made and the crazy journey that I’ve taken. So I have to give her a huge shout out. But outside of that, you know, I look back on the people who are very foundational for me growing up. Um, specifically my coaches, you know, my basketball coach, my golf coach in high school, uh, were tremendous. My college basketball coach and coach and golf coach were tremendous as well. Um, a gentleman named ed Cunliffe who will probably never go on this podcast. He’s not a transfer or he won’t hear it. He’s not in transportation, but he taught me to, um, to, to remove the limitations that I have in my mind, you know, to think much bigger than I could ever think for myself, um, was really huge. And I have to go to, you know, the last 12 months Jayman, um, meeting with people like you and like Nicole and now Scott, and, you know, J D and TJ and Michael, and just all, I mean, I could go, the list goes on and on Kyle and Kyle and everybody in our network that we’ve really kind of, you know, uh, created this a massive synergy around the last 12 months has really pushed me to, to be greater, to believe in myself even more, um, to share more, to give more, um, to see everybody’s point of view and perspective better.

Nicole Glenn (00:44:08):

I mean, it’s really been tremendous this past year, but it really is a village that, uh, that has impacted me and, and, uh, some really special people along the way. I love that. We need to just add on an extra second hour of the show to dive into those last two answers from the colon tray. Um, here’s something I want to share. And I can’t, for some reason, I can’t see which LinkedIn user, uh, share this sentiment. So,

Scott Luton (00:44:32):

Uh, he, he or seat he, or she says mentoring, networking, and leadership development, three pillars that will push our industry forward. We get caught up in the hard skills, but the soft skills are just as important, good stuff.

Nicole Glenn (00:44:47):

100%.

Scott Luton (00:44:48):

Speaking of a hundred percent, Jasmine says that she a hundred percent agrees that having a mentor in your life to expand your mindset is highly valuable, nonjudgmental, selfless, giving people. They are blessings that is very well put fondly. Keith Duckworth, exactly Trey being schooled as a mathematician and physicist. Wow, this guy is well above my pay grade and then trained as Nazi engineer and supply chain person. I sometimes lose the ability to connect as a human with other humans. It’s my wife and others that helped me stay connected with people. Good stuff there from Kiki

Nicole Glenn (00:45:26):

Awareness is great. Keith. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:45:28):

Good example. Absolutely. All right. So from, I kind of hate to move on to the next question. I’ve enjoyed these last couple so much, Jamie what’s next?

Nicole Glenn (00:45:37):

Yeah. Well, let’s, let’s hear what, uh, y’all are up to now. Um, so Trey, we’ll start with you. Uh, what part of the logistics and transportation injured career are you in on now and what exciting stuff do you have going on? Yeah, well, I’m just honored to be the vice president of lean sales, which is a division of lean staffing solutions. You know, my, my, my tenure in transportation has really been in technology as a sales person and technology, and just learn a lot of stuff along the way. This is an opportunity for me to take all those things I’ve learned and build a division within a company within an incredible company. Lean staffing is just a phenomenal organization. And so I get to help other companies now with their sales processes. Now, what we do is we focus on helping them get the right people, you know, through recruiting, vetting and training them for sales, particularly, uh, helped with sales support roles like lead generation lead qualification and the sales processes, because what a lot of people miss out on is they just try to hire a top notch sales guy.

Nicole Glenn (00:46:34):

You know, somebody was experiences who’s done well, but they forget to give them the tools. It’d be like hiring a carpenter. Who’s really great at building houses and only giving them a hammer and nails, like, they’ll get the house built, but it’s going to take a long time. Let’s give them the right tools and the right processes to really make them thrive. And so really ugly house too. It would be. Yeah. So it’s exciting to be able to take the things that I’ve learned and amazing people that I have in my life, and then go to companies and transportation and say, how can we help you generate revenue faster? How can we help your sales grow sales organization run smoother? How can we put the tools in place for your team to really thrive and enjoy their job more? And so it’s a, it’s a matter of putting that together and being a holistic, stale solutions provider in the industry. And I’m very excited to be doing and working with some tremendous, tremendous people near in the, uh, in the industry,

Scott Luton (00:47:19):

Trey, um, you know, as I was doing my homework prior to revenue, generations means to be lean sales, North star. And there’s so many organizations and leaders that whether it’s a challenging

Scott Luton (00:47:30):

Year, like 2020, where they’re struggling with rev gen, or if it’s a, I hate to call any normal year. But if it’s a non year, a year, unlike 2020, it’s still a common challenge, right? Yeah, no, it is. And I think, you know, it comes down to getting the foundation in place. It’s like a, I mean, I’m an IndyCar fan, so I love watching racing. And when you’re putting a race car together, you’ve got to get all the parts together. You got to get them running really well in order for that thing to actually run the way it’s supposed to run and to, to compete. And I think that’s true of sales organizations. You have to get all the pieces in place no matter what, what type of environment that you’re in to really thrive and be competitive and be top notch. It’s just in this type of environment, you have to just do a little bit more work because it’s a little more challenging.

Scott Luton (00:48:15):

The numbers have to go up. I’m completely a numbers guy. And so it’s a numbers game. And so the numbers just have to go up a little bit, but you still have to have a lot of those personal aspects of the relationship building, but all of that is conducive or, or it’s, it’s, it’s optimized when all the pieces are working together and that’s where revenue generation really takes off. And you start to see companies do great is when they put all that together. Well put and Nick you’re right. Nick says every year brings its own challenges. You’re right.

Scott Luton (00:48:44):

Also, I want to go back right before we switch over and get Nicole’s take on some of the things she’s leading. Uh, let’s see. We were talking earlier about those three pillars moving the industry forward. That was Alfred AP Parker, the fourth, that shared goal for that lucky. Alright. Jaman we’re going to get our finger on the pulse of what Nicole is up to, right? Yes. And actually, Nicole, this isn’t fair, but you’re going to get kind of two questions here, cause I want to hear what exciting stuff you’re up to, but smart. Uh, if you could share with us where you came up with a name for candor expedite and the story behind the name, I totally dig it.

Nicole Glenn (00:49:22):

Yeah. I mean, being in logistics for 20 years, we’ve all seen it in brokerage, right? It’s I drivers here or this or this broke down or, and I, I mean, you just, you get used to that kind of mentality that it’s, it’s not truthful. There’s a lot of, you know, not truth. I mean, just, I don’t even know the word to save for that. That happens.

Scott Luton (00:49:46):

Deception.

Nicole Glenn (00:49:48):

How will even, before I opened candor, it was something that I thought would be a great company name because I wanted to lead something, not only with our clients, but with our service providers, um, that they knew that we weren’t going to be one of those companies that would do the bait and switch on loads. And even our employees, you know, there’s, there’s absolutely no lies that need to happen in our company, whether it’s, they’re not happy with what they’re doing or they need clarification. Um, they’re, they’re able to speak out on that. I tell them, I want you to be forthright and, and talk about it. Um, I even brought a lady in to start working for us and we had a truck breakdown and she’s like, wait, we’re going to tell the customer that I’m like, you know, yes, we don’t have to come up with some sort of crazy story. We’ll get that certificate that the unit actually broke down. So having that truth, uh, and what we’re doing is, is so important, you know, and it’s, it’s being transparent with every single person that’s involved with the process. So I’m like, I want to do this and, and just keep everything on the up and up. And, um, candor will have different divisions of that with different types of company names that still follow that, that mindset of just being truth, honest and transparent

Scott Luton (00:51:07):

Power and a name that sets the tone for your career culture. So I love it. I mean, it’s power in the name.

Nicole Glenn (00:51:13):

Yeah. And it’s fun too, because even designing the logo, how it has the, the middle people thought I was saying it is can do type of concept, but no, it’s actually, I wanted people to see that from the dictionary, that’s actually how you pull it out of the dictionary and you see it that way. So it just brings out loud. So

Scott Luton (00:51:31):

I appreciate how intentional you are that has to, to really resonate within the organization like Trey was saying,

Nicole Glenn (00:51:38):

Yeah, it’s something that we actually put as a value. The veracity is one of our values that we live by every single,

Scott Luton (00:51:46):

No, that, that was, uh, uh, Scott looked it up and shared the definition with me, but that was a new word to me, to be totally honest with you. Verocity what does that mean?

Nicole Glenn (00:51:55):

Scott said it beautifully, so go for it.

Scott Luton (00:51:59):

Well, Nicole, I never hear that phrase ever. So

Scott Luton (00:52:03):

I saw that

Scott Luton (00:52:06):

I loved, I also love how you arrived at this name. And so when I saw veracity in your, uh, part of your, um, uh, your bio, I did look it up and a couple of different, but the one that really stood out to me and will be bit between my ears for some time to come is habitual truthfulness. That, I mean, it shouts exactly what it means there. So Nicola, I love it. And we need a lot more, um, you know, in business and for that matter in leadership, transparency and empathy, and these major themes we’ve talked about in this conversation today, we don’t have enough of that. So I admire how you’re leading via example.

Scott Luton (00:52:44):

Well, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And then, so, uh, how is that then, uh, resonating with what fun stuff you’re doing at candor. If you could share that with us, what, what are you doing?

Nicole Glenn (00:52:56):

Candor is an expedited white glove company, brokerage firm, um, going on our will or through our third year. And we’ve really just gotten our structure down. Thank you. I say birthday all the time. Uh, we just really get that, you know, that structure and that workflow down of, you know, having everything very segmented, uh, in regards to helping our clients and our, and our carriers and even our people. Um, so we focus on really elevating and lifting our clients through the process when they’re having challenging shipments, you know, so that final hour where they’re going, Holy cow, we SAP said one thing and we don’t have it here. So can you help us out? So we’re trying to always be there for our customers with those critical, Holy cow hair on fire, or even just that high visibility, uh, type of shipments that, that happen often, where they go, you know, I just need to have a trusted resource, a partner on this that can really walk all the way through with the Shipman and put a bow on it for our clients to keep our clients happy.

Nicole Glenn (00:54:03):

So our whole concept is to help our customers keep commitments to their customers, and that that’s the simplest way that we can say it. Um, and then we’ve also been growing our white glove. You know, we see that e-commerce is booming. You know, we’re, we’re getting more into this final mile, uh, concept. So staying in this niche arm of, of helping clients with specialty equipment, uh, going into doctor’s offices or a room of choice type of delivery user, going into a gas station, delivering an oven, whatever the case is, it’s just having that, uh, capability of, of walking drivers through that through expectations and, and helping our clients get all of that freight delivered into these specialty locations. So it’s been awesome on staying in this niche spot. I love it. Wow.

Scott Luton (00:54:54):

All right. So we’re going to, uh, we want to make sure we connect our listeners to Trey and Nicole and make sure they know how to, how to find them real quick, two quick comments so that I really like here, once one comes from Keith Duckworth, I love your philosophy. Nicole, bad news does not get better with age. It’s not like cheese or wine and no one likes to be blindsided with it. That is so true. And then Stephanie here says at first being direct and honest seems strange, but the appreciation you get back is surprising if you’re not used to it. So, you know, just telling it like it is, uh, that saves everybody so much time and a heartburn and you know exactly what you’re dealing with, so you can make other decisions. So I love how you’ve baked that everyone here has baked that into their approach. Okay. So Jaman, let’s find out how we can get in touch with Trey and Nicola Cola, start with you. How can our listeners connect with you?

Nicole Glenn (00:55:48):

Well, I am very active on LinkedIn, so I know that there’s going to be a link there for you guys to just click my profile. I love to comment and have discussions with people. So start with the messaging, but you can also go to candor exp.com and that will lead you to our website to take a look at our URL there.

Scott Luton (00:56:08):

Awesome. That’s simple. And to our listeners, we also included the LinkedIn profile in the show notes of this episode to make it really easy. All right. So Trey, same question to you. How can our listeners find you? Okay.

Nicole Glenn (00:56:19):

Yeah, likewise. I was looking to get my phone number out, but maybe I shouldn’t do that, but, um, so I’m LinkedIn as well. It’s

Scott Luton (00:56:24):

A great way to connect. Um, if you connect with me on LinkedIn, I will give you my phone number. That’s kind of how it works, but, uh, please reach out on LinkedIn and I’d love to connect love, to comment, love, to engage and just meet some incredible people and create content that I hope you will appreciate, but you can also go to our website, which is lean staffing solutions.com, that’s L E a N staffing solutions.com. And there, you can see all of the divisions of our company and all the offerings that we have there. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:56:50):

But it’s tough there, Nicole and Trey. All right, Jamie and I hate to bring this episode to a close we’ve had, I mean, really, I mean, from a blocking and tackling to a big, heavy leadership theme to just the personal stories and Nicole and Trey’s journey, we’ve had a little bit of everything that, that truly, that Baskin Robbins approach. Uh, and I really enjoyed your approach here. So what’s your

Scott Luton (00:57:12):

One, if you had, if you had the, uh,

Scott Luton (00:57:15):

Your big key takeaway from this conversation with Nicola, Trey, what would it?

Scott Luton (00:57:20):

Yes. And I agree with you, it’s, it’s a blast learning from, uh, Nicole and Trey and getting their viewpoints. Um, I would say what kept resonating to me and what I really feel like I learned from both of them today in our conversation is two sided part of it to seek out mentors or opportunities to get input from other people. But then also to be someone that is doing that, being willing to mentor other people or share lessons learned and, uh, in a positive way, push people and show them, uh, a side of themselves that they may be blind to, uh, show them, you know, that you believe in them in what they can come become an and help push them. Uh, so some real intentional coaching and taking coaching, uh, has really stuck out to me today. Well put,

Scott Luton (00:58:12):

And Greg, I echo what you say. Jaman great job. You’re a great addition to the team honored to share the startup life with you,

Scott Luton (00:58:22):

Sunrise sunrise.

Scott Luton (00:58:26):

So, you know, we like to say around here, deeds, not words and, you know, Nicole and Trey, um, I’m, I’m, I’m really pleased to meet both of y’all for the first time, but, but action and real action. Uh, just, um, you can hear it coming right across the way you talk and communicate and, and answer Jamie’s questions and, and, and roll with the punches. I mean, that’s, that’s the beautiful thing that I love about supply chain cause lip service doesn’t get you far. So, um, really, um, really appreciate y’all coming on here today. Again, Nicole Glenn owner of candour expedite and Trey Griggs, vice president with lean sales, which again is a division of lean staffing solutions. Thanks

Scott Luton (00:59:07):

Each of you. Thank my pleasure. Thanks for having us.

Scott Luton (00:59:11):

All right. So Jamie looking forward to your upcoming, uh, next couple episodes around the Jamie logistics and transportation experience, always good stuff there, uh, and our audience, Hey, uh, you are why we do what we do love the comments and the questions and the insights that they really delivered today. Uh, they really did. And, uh, Jamie, we needed that whole hour dedicated to those comments, um, but Hey, to our listeners, uh, thanks for your time. You can check us out at supply chain now, radio.com for a wide variety of podcasts and live streams and a lot more, um, we challenge our audience just like with challenge ourselves along these lines about deeds, not words it’s about, you know, do good, uh, give forward and be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody. Appreciate y’all

Would you rather watch the show in action?

Watch as Scott and Jamin welcome Trey Griggs and Nicole Glenn to Supply Chain Now through our YouTube channel.

Featured Guests

Trey Griggs began his career as a high school physics teacher & coach, also spending much of his time working with students as a youth pastor. In 2010, Trey transitioned to a career in sales, cutting his teeth in door-to-door office supply sales for 15 months before accepting an opportunity at DAT Solutions as an inside sales rep. In his first 10 months, Trey was the top performing sales rep in four of those months, earning Sales Rep of the Year in 2012 among a team of nine. He was quickly promoted to enterprise sales where he led the team in revenue-generation each of the following three years. During his nine years in the transportation industry, Trey has gained experience in several sectors within technology, including load boards, rate analytics, TMS systems, visibility solutions, digital freight-matching platforms, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Trey enjoys coaching teams to be great, as well as speaking on sales & marketing strategies, leadership & organizational structure, and technology. When he’s not building world-class organizations, you can find Trey spending time with his family, traveling, renovating his home, playing golf, working out, reading & playing music.

Nicole Glenn is the Owner & President of WBENC certified, Candor Expedite, Inc. Candor is an Illinois based hotshot ground & white-glove brokerage firm with an additional sales and operations office in Plano, TX. Starting out in Logistics & Supply Chain in the year 2000, Nicole has had a very diverse background in different modes and roles within the industry. Operations was where she started her career with truckload services, heavyweight partials, linehaul/consolidations, and expedited shipments. She then moved into the asset-based sector working with company owner-operators, as an operations representative with direct manufacturers’ shipments that specialized in food service shipping. In the year 2008, Nicole joined a privately held asset-based ground and indirect air expedite company where she would develop her career further from operations & sales to management and then executive. Her experience enabled her company to start the development of its truckload brokerage as well as its local/regional company driver truckload model. At this company, Nicole fell in love with not only sales but people, management, and lifting her team to come together with a common goal of success. In 2017, Nicole ventured out on her own starting Candor Expedite with an emphasis on ground expedite service, white-glove, and final mile services. Candor Expedite is a dynamic customer service company that focuses on aligning its clients with the proper solutions with service, communication, and transparency.

Jamin Alvidrez’s unique perspective, love of people and positive energy lead him to found Freight Tribe. Freight Tribe helps companies and people of Supply Chain & Logistics showcase what makes them special. He began his career in Supply Chain, Freight & Logistics in 2004. For the past 16+ years he has focused his passion in the Third Party Logistics world. Jamin prides himself on his diverse experience working on all sides of the business during his time at CH Robinson, FreightQuote, and AgForce Transport.

Hosts

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

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Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

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Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

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Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Kim Reuter

Host, The Freight Insider

From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.

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Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

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Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

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Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

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Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

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Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

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Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

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Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

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Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

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Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

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Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

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Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

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Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

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Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

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Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

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Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

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