Load One CEO
- Thread starter kastmgmt
- Start date
I know he was a fleet owner, but I'm not sure if he drove.
Probably both.....LOL
He needs to do an AMA on Reddit.
Trucking runs very deep in his family. TSI, Canamex, FTY in the family and JKE II trans. plus another personally and if im wrong im sure he will correct me. You wont find a better man or business associate. If you are not proud to be affiliated with this man then its your loss !!
mrgoodtude
Not a Member
Wow, how is that for a testimonial?
I'm proud just to know him, and i've only met him once.
Well then, lol. Thank you for the kind words.
I grew up in the trucking industry. My grandfather founded Transportation Services Inc (TSI) which is still in our family. TSI is a large well known truckload carrier specializing in truckload in and out of Mexico and primarily serves the auto industry. My father was the VP of operations for many years. I learned the business from the bottom up. First summer as a kid was sweeping out trailers and cleaning the yard and shop. Then learned trailer maintenance and some basic tractor repair. When I was 16 I was brought into learn operations.
At the same time I joined the army reserves and went to basic training the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. Then AIT and air assault following graduation. Then off to college. I spent 12 years in the reserves and active duty in total. I was a sergeant first class when I retired. I was a drill sergeant that taught infantry and the TOW missile system primarily at Fort Benning GA.
In college wanted to get the heck out of trucking and my freshman year in college it happened! They introduced a brand new degree program. A bachelor of science in aviation management and logistics! My family was not thrilled in the slightest, lol. You would have thought I told them I wanted to be a ballerina or something??? LOL.
So one semester from graduation my grandfather calls asking..."that thing you do in college, that's planes right?". Well low and behold he had started another company and was awarded the airfreight, consolidation and air charter work for Ford Mexico. So I went back to work for the family in aviation realm. Did that for about two years and really struggled working for the family.
Then one day a guy I knew called me with an offer to be operations manager for Thompson Transport (half sister company then to Thompson Emergency). I explained I had a degree in aviation management and that was what I was doing now. Well he made me an offer I couldn't refuse and back in the trucking world I went!
I spent 7 years at Thompson which became and is today FTI - A Frederick Thompson Company. During that time I became a fleet owner. I rented my first semi truck and put it on at a different carrier so it didn't interfere at Thompson. 7 years later I had 32 tractors and decided it was time to quit my job and make a full time go of my trucks.
I got a little office down the street at the old truckstop in Dearborn Heights MI. I got bored real quick. So I started running a regional operation for the one carrier I had trucks with. Then I started running a brokerage agency for them as well. All the while I kept growing my fleet at the high point I had 142 tractors I owned.
Well that many tractors is a business model you don't really see. I struggled at times with the carriers we were on with as I had my own business ideas that often differed from theirs.
So about 12 years ago I founded Load One. Sold almost 100 of the trucks, bought trailers and used the capital to become a carrier. We were a regional truckload dry van carrier. About 2 years into it one of my dispatchers who had worked at a small expedite company begged me to add a fleet owner with one straight truck and one van. I said no. A week later she asked again, I said no. 6 weeks later going back and forth I relented, lol. Thus our corporate destiny was changed!
Can I drive a truck, yes I know how and I am somewhat proficient at it. I purposely did not get a cdl. I found it would be too easy as a fleet owner to jump in a truck if one was sitting. If I was doing that I wouldn't be managing my fleet and I would be taking my eye of the ball. I figured it was best to not have that option open to me and to focus on what I was supposed to be doing.
I made some good business decisions, some bad ones, got lucky a few times and overall it has worked out pretty well. I have a great group of drivers and employees that are really the heart and soul of the company. Been married to my college sweetheart for over 19 years now and have a beautiful 13 year old daughter (who will probably be the death of me), lol.
Well there you have it!
Or option b which is also a true story....
When I was in 5th grade I went to Griebling Elementary School in NJ. The only famous person to ever go to Griebling Elementary was an actor named Greg Evigan. At that time he had a hit show on TV, BJ and the bear! Well I thought that was awesome and I wanted to go into trucking. But I never got a monkey.
I grew up in the trucking industry. My grandfather founded Transportation Services Inc (TSI) which is still in our family. TSI is a large well known truckload carrier specializing in truckload in and out of Mexico and primarily serves the auto industry. My father was the VP of operations for many years. I learned the business from the bottom up. First summer as a kid was sweeping out trailers and cleaning the yard and shop. Then learned trailer maintenance and some basic tractor repair. When I was 16 I was brought into learn operations.
At the same time I joined the army reserves and went to basic training the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. Then AIT and air assault following graduation. Then off to college. I spent 12 years in the reserves and active duty in total. I was a sergeant first class when I retired. I was a drill sergeant that taught infantry and the TOW missile system primarily at Fort Benning GA.
In college wanted to get the heck out of trucking and my freshman year in college it happened! They introduced a brand new degree program. A bachelor of science in aviation management and logistics! My family was not thrilled in the slightest, lol. You would have thought I told them I wanted to be a ballerina or something??? LOL.
So one semester from graduation my grandfather calls asking..."that thing you do in college, that's planes right?". Well low and behold he had started another company and was awarded the airfreight, consolidation and air charter work for Ford Mexico. So I went back to work for the family in aviation realm. Did that for about two years and really struggled working for the family.
Then one day a guy I knew called me with an offer to be operations manager for Thompson Transport (half sister company then to Thompson Emergency). I explained I had a degree in aviation management and that was what I was doing now. Well he made me an offer I couldn't refuse and back in the trucking world I went!
I spent 7 years at Thompson which became and is today FTI - A Frederick Thompson Company. During that time I became a fleet owner. I rented my first semi truck and put it on at a different carrier so it didn't interfere at Thompson. 7 years later I had 32 tractors and decided it was time to quit my job and make a full time go of my trucks.
I got a little office down the street at the old truckstop in Dearborn Heights MI. I got bored real quick. So I started running a regional operation for the one carrier I had trucks with. Then I started running a brokerage agency for them as well. All the while I kept growing my fleet at the high point I had 142 tractors I owned.
Well that many tractors is a business model you don't really see. I struggled at times with the carriers we were on with as I had my own business ideas that often differed from theirs.
So about 12 years ago I founded Load One. Sold almost 100 of the trucks, bought trailers and used the capital to become a carrier. We were a regional truckload dry van carrier. About 2 years into it one of my dispatchers who had worked at a small expedite company begged me to add a fleet owner with one straight truck and one van. I said no. A week later she asked again, I said no. 6 weeks later going back and forth I relented, lol. Thus our corporate destiny was changed!
Can I drive a truck, yes I know how and I am somewhat proficient at it. I purposely did not get a cdl. I found it would be too easy as a fleet owner to jump in a truck if one was sitting. If I was doing that I wouldn't be managing my fleet and I would be taking my eye of the ball. I figured it was best to not have that option open to me and to focus on what I was supposed to be doing.
I made some good business decisions, some bad ones, got lucky a few times and overall it has worked out pretty well. I have a great group of drivers and employees that are really the heart and soul of the company. Been married to my college sweetheart for over 19 years now and have a beautiful 13 year old daughter (who will probably be the death of me), lol.
Well there you have it!
Or option b which is also a true story....
When I was in 5th grade I went to Griebling Elementary School in NJ. The only famous person to ever go to Griebling Elementary was an actor named Greg Evigan. At that time he had a hit show on TV, BJ and the bear! Well I thought that was awesome and I wanted to go into trucking. But I never got a monkey.
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westmicher
Veteran Expediter
It is great to see the American Dream is still available with hard work and taking a few risks. Congrats on your success and I hope it continues through out the years. The Load 1 drivers I have met are proud to carry your logo. That says it all.