Dive Brief:
- North Dakota-based reefer Great Plains Transport expanded its leadership team with the addition of Ryan Brugioni as central operations director and Mark Harshfield as senior director of business development. These executive appointments follow the February hire of Jacob Perry as chief growth officer.
- Building a strong sales leadership team in a soft economy will help put the carrier in a growth position as the market recovers, President and CEO Mike Holland said in an interview with Transport Dive.
- “I just have to be aggressive right now,” said Holland, noting the market will eventually rebound. “We’re going to come out of it … and I’m going to have a stronger sales team and brokerage because of it.”
Dive Insight:
National expansion is a priority for the reefer, which also specializes as a heavy haul carrier and brokerage. The addition of Perry, Brugioni and Harshfield is part of the company’s plan to bring that strategy to fruition.
Brugioni most recently worked for Dupré Logistics, where he managed branch operations and boosted revenue from $1 million to $15 million in three years, according to a company press release. Great Plains was drawn to his experience in managing large geographical territories with a focus on rapid business growth.
Great Plains noted Harshfield’s background in sales, logistics and operations management fits well with its growth focus. His accomplishments included growing new customer business by 38% in his first year at Swift Logistics and increasing revenue by 30% YoY at Bounce Logistics.
Another facet of Great Plain’s expansion plans includes raising customer satisfaction, on-time deliveries and a steady driver workforce, Holland said. He added that the company recently invested in 25 new tractors and other equipment, which reduced the average age of its reefer and dry van trailers to 2.3 years.
”You can’t hire drivers with older equipment anymore,” Holland said.
The company operates a fleet of over 300 tractors and 300 trailers with nearly 300 drivers.
Holland said the first quarter is historically challenging for the trucking industry, but he is ready to pursue business.
“We're bidding a lot of freight right now,” he said. "We're getting more awards, [but] they're not as big as we would expect.”
Holland said while freight secured by his company today may not pay as much as it did in recent years, he’ll take the work.
“I don't think they are the same size awards we got in the past two or three years, but customers still need freight hauled,” he said.
