Looking for an interesting company and CEO? How about this story about a political activist truck driver who became a successful global 3PL entrepreneur?
Logistics Plus Inc. was founded in 1996 by Jim Berlin, a former truck driver/political activist turned entrepreneur and our current CEO. Jim created Logistics Plus on nothing more than a 1-year purchase order from GE. Today, as we enter our 28th year of business, we have over 1,200 global employees, and we have grown every year except one with global revenues that now surpass $600M.
With Jim’s leadership, we continue to adapt and evolve as the world keeps changing. During the pandemic, when traditional business was down, we leveraged our global connections to source, warehouse, and distribute over 12 million pieces of PPE to organizations in need (much of it donated more recently). We have raised over $1M for relief efforts in Ukraine and have doubled down on rebuilding efforts by acquiring an in-country Ukrainian logistics firm, expanding our presence in the country to over 70 employees.
As a result of these activities and more, Logistics Plus has tripled in size in the last seven years, won four consecutive Inc. 5000 private company growth awards, been certified a Great Place to Work for five consecutive years, and been named twice top 100 medium workplace by Fortune magazine. Inc. magazine also named Logistics Plus to its “Editors’ List” as one of twelve companies that created a great work environment during a pandemic. Top media outlets have named us a leading 3PL within the industry.
How’s this all possible? In large part due to the vision of our CEO, Jim Berlin, to evolve, adapt, and re-focus our company into new areas (we’re as much a technology company today as we are a logistics company) – all without a business plan (except for ‘growth’) or an organization chart. Even as we have grown, we have remained highly diverse in age, gender, race, and tenure. Our proudest symbol of diversity is our global headquarters in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Berlin purchased the historic train station in 2003, a dilapidated building in a troubled rust-belt city, then renovated it and turned it into a beacon of pride for Erie kicking off a renaissance of new development. On top of this building, we fly flags from 50 different countries – each one representing the nationality of one of our employees or a place where we do business.
Though no longer a fire-breathing revolutionary, Jim believes that he is helping to bring about some of the goals he fought for so long ago as a political activist in the early 1970s: an end to racism and sexism in employee hiring, the abolition or attenuation of workplace hierarchies, an attempt to end the blight of inner-city neighborhoods, the expansion of opportunities for minorities, the amelioration of poverty’s impact, and so on. Even if his methods are different (and trust me, they are), these are meaningful changes. His impact has spread to employees, their families, and the local community and positively affects the future of them all. Many employees openly express their gratitude to Jim for the opportunities he’s provided them. Women are proud to use the word “career” because they had always thought one was outside their realm of possibility; young men are relieved to know that if they leave their hometown and family and friends, it’ll be because they want to, not because they have to; working-class millennials, many without college degrees, being rewarded for what they do rather than the credentials they hold; people still in their twenties and early thirties buying their own homes. Mr. Berlin’s political revolution failed. But his business revolution may be long-lived. Not bad for a former truck driver and political activist.
Not bad for a former truck driver and political activist (and purported dancing partner of Angela Davis).
Let me know if you are interested in our story and an interview with Jim, or if there are any questions we can answer or topics we can address for your publication.
Thank you,
Scott G. Frederick
CMO & LTL Carrier Relations
Logistics Plus Inc.
814.240.6881 phone
330.304.5030 mobile
scott.frederick@logisticsplus.com