The TIA Podcast

Silo built its brokerage around freight most of the industry passes on. Six years in, it still hasn’t chased volume to grow. We spent a day at their Nashville office with Bryan Roy, Vice President of Business Operations. He explains why Silo says no to a 200-load RFP, how feedback from the floor drives the software his team ships every week, and why a broker should be able to take a week off and a...

More brokerages are changing hands, and a lot of owners are wondering if their company is ready for the day they're not the one running it. Doug Grawe says buyers can tell the difference between a company that's prepared and one that's scrambling to get out. Doug is founder and CEO of The Grawe Group. He talks about hiring people who are new to freight, keeping your culture intact afte...

Eric Williams just won both the People's Choice and Judges' Choice awards at TIA's Shark Tank for Beagl, the company he co-founded to help brokers run a better RFP process and win more contract freight. Tech companies love to tell brokers to just give it a try. Eric says to start with the problem you actually have, because new software won't fix a process your leadership hasn't...

Thieves are pulling freight off moving trains, and fraudsters are using stolen broker identities to move dozens of loads. Brandon Arnold spent 28 years in brokerage before moving into insurance, and he thinks leaning too hard on tech is part of the problem. Recorded live at TIA Technovations, Brandon walks through the per-load math he runs before buying any tool and where a small brokerage should...

Will Jenkins co-founded a brokerage at 26 that ArcBest later bought for $235 million up front. Then he started over with no outside money and no paid marketing. Will is founder and CEO of Journey, which helps freight brokerages hire and develop their people. He talks about learning freight from the best reps at Coyote, and what he looks for in new hires. He also covers how to pressure test an idea...

Greg Sanders launched a brokerage at 55, about three weeks before Covid, with no time window to fail. He leads by a stoic's rule: you can't control what happens, only how you react to it. Greg is chairman and CEO of RDS Capacity Solutions and Treasurer of TIA's board. He talks about staying calm when the industry panics, why he gave his first partners equity, what he listens for in an...

Truck rates are up and intermodal rates have held steady, and shippers are moving freight over to the rail because of it. Most small brokers still can't quote it. Jeff Brashares says the setup is easier than you think. Three railroads will now handle the pickup and delivery for you. He gets into which lanes and commodities actually pay off on rail, what happens to a customer relationship when...

You've heard a hundred takes on AI in freight. Most are about the technology. This one's about the desk that has to use it. David Peckman sits with brokerages all day, from the ones just poking at AI to the ones fully deployed. The failures he sees aren't technology failures. They're SOP problems, management problems, and a desk that quietly routes around the thing the CFO just bou...

One week out from the Policy Forum, TIA's President and CEO and the Government Affairs team walk through what members are going to Capitol Hill to ask for. Chris Burroughs on what the Montgomery decision changed and what it didn't. Daniel Hoff on a rule written in the 1980s by an agency that no longer exists, and where the update is sitting now. Mitchell Hart on CORCA, the vehicle it found...

Descartes bought Tai for $100 million on August 24. This episode covers what that means for a broker running Tai Software, and then goes past the deal into the two claims Tai Software has been making out loud: never make a check call again, and never lose a load again. Andrew Wimer runs transportation management at Descartes. Mitch Mitchell founded Tai Software and closed the deal a few days befor...

There is no FMCSA in Canada. No surety bond, no MC number, no federal database to run a carrier against. None of which protects anybody the way brokers on both sides of the border assume it does. Freight Beat is the podcast from the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the trade association for third-party logistics companies (3PLs) and freight brokers in North America. Gordon Hearn is...

Freight rates are climbing, margins are still tight, and Avery Vise says brokers haven't seen the top of this market yet. Freight Beat is the podcast from the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the trade association for third-party logistics companies (3PLs) and freight brokers in North America. Every episode breaks down what's actually happening in the freight market, straig...

Every rule that lands on your brokerage was open for comment first, argued over, stalled, and rewritten long before you heard about it. Jack Van Steenburg watched that happen for 15 years, and he is blunt about the parts that never show up in a Federal Register notice. Jack left FMCSA as executive director and chief safety officer, the highest ranking career employee at the agency. He walks throug...

Freight Beat welcomes to the show Daniel Ilg, president of ILG Logistics and an at-large member of TIA's board of directors. He knows the value of speaking for your industry, he has been going to Washington for six years. In this conversation: -The biggest misconception brokers have about what lobbying actually is -What he tells the broker who says they don't want to get involved in politi...

Nearshoring is having a moment in freight and logistics, but most brokers still don't know what it actually means, or how it's different from offshoring and outsourcing. Freight Beat down with Mia Mazal , co-founder of Talento, a company that helps freight and logistics businesses build teams in Latin America. Mia, a former behavioral therapist turned logistics leader, breaks down the real...

Last week a Texas jury ruled that a broker is heavily liable in the death of several people stemming from a 2021 traffic collision. This has sent ripples through the brokerage community. But what does it mean, really? Transport attorney Craig Helmreich joins Freight Beat to give his point of view. While it doesn't represent legal advice, and he has no connection to the case, he's argued si...

The logistics world is finding itself in unexplored territory, and the legal footing of brokers - as well as other parts of the supply chain - are wondering what to do next. In this episode of Freight Beat, Nathaniel Saylor, transportation attorney at Scopelitis, Garvin, Light Hanson & Feary, joins to dig into where the 3PL world finds itself post- Montgomery , what brokers should do to prepar...

Freight Beat talks with Scott Cornell, the Chief Risk Officer for SPG Cargo & Logistics and Chair of the Transported Asset Protection Association(TAPA). Cornell is an expert in the realm of cargo theft, whether strategic or straight theft, and wants brokers to be prepared for whatever comes. Listen to gain insights on the latest schemes, tools you can use today to protect yourself, and tips on...

Former FMCSA administrator Annette Sandberg joins Freight Beat to break down what highway safety really means for brokers and 3PLs. She explains the agency’s core mission to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities, and how that translates into practical responsibilities around carrier vetting and selection. Sandberg also unpacks why safety can’t be “predicted,” common myths about negligent hiring...

The drayage market isn't slowing down, it's merely shifting. Driver capacity is shrinking fast, liability rules just changed, and intermodal is having a moment. We brought in some of the sharpest operators in the business to explain what's happening, why it matters, and what brokers should do right now. Just the intel you need to stay ahead in the second half of 2026.

This episode explores how the Digital Standards Development Council (DSDC) is building a common digital language for freight. Learn why EDI still matters, where APIs add real-time value, how standards support AI, and practical steps shippers, carriers, brokers, and 3PLs can take to start adopting them.

Explore how freight brokers can adopt automation without overhauling existing workflows. This episode covers practical strategies for using freight technology to improve carrier sourcing, booking, tracking, compliance, and payment processes while maintaining control over margin and service. Learn how automation can reduce manual tasks, support after-hours coverage, increase operational efficiency,...

In this episode, Alex Winston, Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer at Expedite All, breaks down what freight brokers need to know about contracts to protect their margins and operate with confidence in 2026. Alex covers the most common, and costly, contract mistakes brokers make, from blanket consequential damages waivers that leave your business exposed, to missing non-solicitation clauses that le...

Listen as Chuck Cook and Cameron Brown from RenovoData break down why disaster recovery is a critical business strategy for freight brokers and 3PLs, not just an IT problem. The conversation covers the key differences between data backup and a full disaster recovery plan, common planning mistakes organizations make, and how cloud infrastructure has modernized recovery capabilities. Chuck and Camer...

In this episode, Tom Curee of Qued and Shawn McLeod of Axle Logistics sit down for a candid conversation about what it really means to use technology the right way in freight brokerage. They dig into how to evaluate new tools without falling for shiny object syndrome, why process improvement has to come before automation, and how to get genuine buy-in across a 700+ person organization. Most import...