Valley Companies named Brandon Gilbert, son of CEO Todd Gilbert, director of logistics partnerships, the company announced last month.
The move is part of the Hudson, Wisconsin-based firm’s transition from a trucking company to a logistics and managed transportation business. The company sold its trucking segment to Dayton Freight Lines in 2022.
Todd Gilbert has led Valley Companies through its transition. He is a third-generation company owner and hoped one day his son would join him. However, a job in the family business must be earned, he said.
“They need to go and get some experience elsewhere and go see what’s out there,” Todd Gilbert said. “Brandon did it.”
Before joining Valley Companies, Brandon Gilbert worked for Scouler, a transportation and logistics services company in Omaha, Nebraska, according to his LinkedIn profile. He worked as an associate merchandiser and later as a merchandiser.
Brandon Gilbert was introduced to the family business before and while earning his degree at Iowa State University. He interned as a freight broker and spent time as a dockworker, working alongside his great uncles Harry and Bob Gilbert.
In those roles, he learned the importance of attention to detail. He said his uncles wouldn’t pass by even the smallest piece of trash on Valley’s dock without stopping to pick it up.
“It’s about pride and understanding that the little things matter,” Brandon Gilbert said.
