A balanced approach: Celadon uses technology to act quickly, strategically

As a mathematician, Steve Russell takes a very methodical and planned approach in life and business. His beard, for instance, is the result of a calculation he once made on how many minutes he could save throughout his life and apply to more productive tasks than shaving.

One day nearly 30 years ago, Russell, from Brooklyn, New York, stopped at a toll booth on the Henry Hudson Parkway. He had always carried exact change to travel as efficiently as possible through toll booths. This day was different.

He stopped and waited for change and, in the process, spotted a former colleague in the next lane. They both quickly rolled down their windows and the colleague wasted no time in telling Russell of an opportunity to start a business transporting automotive freight into the United States from Mexico.

The rest, as they say, is history. From this chance encounter Russell created the Celadon Group in 1985.

Today, the Celadon Group (CCJ Top 250, No.36) operates 3,500 trucks and 9,200 trailers with diversified operations that include dry van, temperature control, intermodal, local, regional and dedicated.

On May 6 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., two of Celadon’s young leaders discussed how the company is using advanced technology to follow the example set by Russell as the scale and complexity of Celadon’s business continue to grow.

Lauren Howard, vice president of customer service, and Troy Casey, optimization manager of Celadon, presented at the Manhattan Associates’ user conference, Momentum, on a very robust tool the company uses called Load Analyzer. The technology helps the company stay true to its roots of taking a very methodical, planned approach and quickly responding to new opportunities at hand.