The business of logistics runs through Nicole Glenn’s veins. At 18 years old, Glenn—now president and CEO of Candor Expedite—attended college at night and worked in logistics during the day.
She started her career at a small brokerage firm comprising four men in their 50s and 60s. They called her “the kid.” At the company, she started out filing handwritten invoices and helping with smaller jobs. Eventually, her responsibilities grew. Glenn began moving freight, talking to customers, and before she knew it, she was going on sales calls.
“I thought it was just going to be one of those part-time stints of time,” Glenn told FleetOwner. “I didn’t know that I would eventually love it.”
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Over the course of 22 years, Glenn has worked at six different companies, had a daughter, and then had a set of twins. At one point, she worked at a company called K&L Freight Management, which was her first sales job. She worked her way up to a national sales representative and then director of sales. Eventually, she took on the role of vice president of the company.
That’s where Glenn felt she thrived.
As K&L Freight grew, the company developed a fleet doing slip-seat trucking while running loads for Nestlé and Barilla. Glenn became president of the company and was in that role for about eight years.
“I loved the company so much that it felt like it was mine, but it wasn’t,” she said. “I had twins in the middle of all of that and was traveling a ton and giving my all to the company, so I asked, ‘What can I do to buy in?’ The owner was just uncomfortable with releasing shares to his company.”
That’s when Glenn left and developed Candor Expedite in 2017, and her expedited freight brokerage firm has been in growth mode ever since. The company offers white-glove, time-sensitive truckload and hotshot ground services, and it manages numerous loads for cargo van, flatbed, and straight truck hauls.
What Glenn loves most about working in logistics is the chaos of it, she told FleetOwner. Candor Expedite works with a lot of customers of consumer packaged goods, who call when they need something moved ASAP.
“I love being able to help people hit their goals or get something done and make them the hero of the day in their company,” she said.
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At the height of the pandemic, Candor was working with shippers and carriers to run emergency respirators into New York City when everything else was shut down. The firm also helped expedite loads of hand sanitizer and even oxygen machines that ended up in patients’ homes.
Based on her experience working to bring shippers and carriers together, as well as running a slip-seat trucking operation, Glenn acknowledged that some of the biggest challenges carriers face today is the revolving door of professional drivers and everyone competing for that driver set. She added that smaller carriers, in particular, have a difficult time understanding their intangible costs.
“I think it is really identifying your true business sense of what your fleet should be doing,” Glenn advised. “Hone in on those costs and really develop a relationship with your customer that helps you and them understand what you’re tying to accomplish to be successful.”
“We have to remember that everything is cyclical,” she added. “Instead of working against each other, we should be working with each other.”
In April, the Women In Trucking Association (WIT), Truckstop.com, and Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) named Glenn the winner of the eighth annual Distinguished Woman in Logistics Award. Glenn is also a certified member of The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, The Expedite Association of North America, WIT, and TIA.
She has received numerous accolades including being named one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by WIT, and a 2021 Enterprising Women of the Year Champion, an annual tribute to the world’s top female entrepreneurs.
As for brokers moving forward, Glenn said if they don't conduct business properly, there will be significantly fewer brokerage firms in the years to come.
“It’s really about crafting your niche,” she advised. “Technology is going to keep progressing, so you have to adapt your methods and see how you can create something of value for a customer.”
Over the next few years, Glenn sees Candor Expedite continuing to grow.
“We are focused on transparency and truth. That’s why the name of our company is Candor,” she explained. “We are focused on technology, our people, and staying in that [expedited] spot where we are today and being a master of those modes.”
