GOOD QUESTION | Who would be on your Mount Rushmore of transportation and logistics visionaries?
R. Gene Richter, the logistics visionary. President Eisenhower, who made possible the U.S. Interstate Highway System. Henry Ford as a founder of the automobile industry and creator of the assembly line. And Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who developed one of the most dynamic global supply chain operations.
Senior Vice President
Institute for Supply Management®
J.B. Hunt, the creative disruptor of truckload and intermodal transportation. Irwin Jacobs, who made mobile satellite communication effective and affordable.
Tom Sanderson
CEO, Transplace
FedEx founder Fred Smith and shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. And Grace Hopper, the inventor of the computer compiler, which led to computers using words to compute vs. only numbers.
Bruce Welty
Founder, Locus Robotics
Jim Johnston, president, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, for championing owner-operators. Anthony Foxx, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, for supporting autonomous vehicles. Dr. Yossi Sheffi, director, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, for leadership in education, research, and industry/government outreach programs.
Andrew Kelley
President, haulme
Elon Musk and Malcom McLean. Musk for revolutionizing the transportation industry; and McLean for inventing the shipping container, an indispensable efficiency in global trade.
Reinhard Steup
Senior Manager
HAVI Supply Chain Management
William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell: founders of the Pony Express. Gustavus Swift: developed the first “refrigerated rail car.” Jimmy Carter: president who signed the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which deregulated the trucking industry.
Anthony Ceritelli
Regional Coordinator, Zipline Logistics
J.D. Rockefeller – rail transportation (specifically for oil). Franklin D. Roosevelt – Federal Highway Act of 1944.
Andrew Kopp
Logistics Solutions Consultant
Zipline Logistics
There are many people from my life fit for my “Mount Rushmore of Logistics.” Not always because of their impact on our industry, but because of the unstoppable values they instilled in me. My mentor, Tom, taught me perseverance—how to think outside of the box, always look for other options and never settle. My grandfather taught me independence—he was the person that instilled confidence in me from a very young age. My father taught me that integrity in business is key, and once you lose integrity you have nothing.
Angela Eliacostas
President/Founder
AGT Global Logistics
The drivers who haul for our carriers are the faces of our industry. When we contract with a carrier, we represent our company through the driver who is dispatched to haul shipments.
Landon Weninger
Logistics Manager
LPS
There is no ONE person who is deserving. It is the millions of American workers in the transportation industry working in the trenches day in and day out solving major and minor issues and keep our economy humming. I believe they all earn the right to be on Mount Rushmore.
Larry Hall
Founder
LPS
My two leading visionaries are FedEx and Expeditors. FedEx has introduced their new CrossBorder program which provides total landed pricing for B2C shipments, allowing companies to provide B2C distribution from the United States to the rest of the world while ensuring their total duties are included in the consumer pricing. Expeditors is a close second on my list as they continue to evolve their client analytics portal, providing their clients with accessibility to data and dashboards and enabling them to better manage transportation needs.
Leslie Orcutt
Director, Transportation Management
ModusLink Corporation
Mitch Weseley has been a TMS pioneer for decades and intricately involved in starting companies and building systems since the beginning of the modern TMS industry. More freight globally moves on transportation systems started by Mitch than by anyone else.
Chuck Fuerst
Vice President, Marketing
3Gtm
A Piece of the Rock
IL’s LinkedIn followers suggest carving these notable names:
- Juan Trippe: Commercial aviation pioneer and Pan Am founder
- James E. Casey: Founder and former CEO of UPS
- Larry Rodberg Sr.: Airfreight leader and former executive of three airfreight companies
- Ralph Budd: Railroad builder and former president of Great Northern Railway
- Don Schneider: Trucking industry visionary and former president and CEO of Schneider National