Driving Forward Podcast

The freight market is improving. But better rates don’t solve old problems. After years of fighting through one of the toughest freight cycles, carriers and brokers are facing a different challenge: deciding how to grow without making the same mistakes. Todd Waldron joins Nate Johnson to discuss what they're hearing across the industry, why operational flexibility matters more than ever, where...

Technology only creates value when people know how to use it. Driving Forward revisits a conversation between Nate Johnson and Dr. Gina Anderson, CEO of Luma Brighter Learning and Learning Scientist. Long before AI became the center of every conversation, Dr. Gina Anderson was helping transportation companies rethink how people learn, adapt, and embrace change. As a learning scientist and CEO of L...

Pam has earned Carrier of the Year honors and worked with over 3,000 customers. But what sets her apart is turning her hardest lessons into a roadmap for the next generation of operators. 🚛 She survived her first year of asset ownership during COVID and leads 6 businesses with a mission to teach others. Welcome back Pam Polyak — 3rd generation trucking owner, primary owner of Polyak Trucking, Log...

The freight market is moving again, but that does not mean the pressure is gone. Rates are shifting. Capacity is tightening in some areas. Costs remain high. Carriers, brokers, and freight tech companies are still feeling the effects of a long, difficult market. Nate Johnson and Robert Bain discuss what they're hearing from transportation and logistics companies right now, including freight ma...

Technology has changed. Pricing has changed. Expectations around visibility and data have changed.  But one challenge has remained the same:  How do carriers, shippers, and technology providers make better decisions with better information?   Lance Healy joins Nate Johnson to discuss what FreightFacts is launching, the current state of the industry, what’s changing in LTL, why better data matters,...

Melanie Simard didn’t build her career from one side of the industry. She built it from nearly every angle possible. She started in brokerage, but decided early on that she wanted real experience on the asset side of trucking. So she got her Class 1 CDL and went driving long-haul reefer. When she was told women didn’t belong in flatbed, she went there too. From the cab to dispatch, operations, saf...

Freight fraud hasn’t slowed down. It’s evolved. Cargo theft, identity fraud, phishing attacks, double brokering, fake carriers… the tactics keep changing, and the companies staying ahead are the ones paying attention to both operations and cybersecurity. In this replay of Driving Forward, Nate Johnson is joined by Dale Prax of FreightValidate, Steve Vest of Nationwide Equipment Transportation, and...

Growth in logistics rarely comes from shortcuts. It comes from consistency, accountability, and making the right decisions when they’re hardest to make. Chris Sonnek, Director of Operations at TEN Logistics, joins Nate Johnson on the Driving Forward Podcast for a conversation centered on the operational realities shaping trucking and logistics right now. With experience across truckload, LTL, ware...

AI is showing up in every corner of trucking right now. Dispatch. Safety. Maintenance. Recruiting. Customer service. Fuel optimization. Driver communication. And for a lot of trucking company leaders, it’s becoming hard to separate what’s real from what’s just marketing noise. After months of conversations at conferences and industry events, one thing has become clear: the technology gap inside tr...

Fraud in freight isn’t slowing down. It’s getting smarter… and harder to spot. And more often than most realize… It doesn’t start with a stolen load. It starts with a cyber breach. Behind many instances of freight fraud today is a compromised system, a phishing attempt, or a small gap in cybersecurity that opens the door to something much bigger. A missed step. A broken process. A gap that someone...

APIs changed how freight connects.  So why are so many decisions still disconnected? 🚚  We’re replaying a past Driving Forward conversation with Lance Healy (Co-Founder/CEO of FreightFacts.io) and Nate Johnson - originally recorded in July 2025 - because the ideas behind today’s LTL technology, pricing, and data standards didn’t happen overnight.  They were built over time.  Lance has been part o...

Fuel is up. Parking is tight. Pressure is building. But what’s really happening out on the road? With 2M+ accident-free miles and more than 20 years over the road, Chris Thomas has seen the industry from all angles. From navigating day-to-day realities behind the wheel to building a growing presence online, even gaining attention overseas in Japan, his perspective reaches beyond a single lane. Nat...

Some leaders grow companies. Others build systems that scale long after they step away. 🚚 Jason Nesbitt, President & Founder of Trucking Proz, has spent more than 25 years doing both. From launching and scaling multiple organizations to leading one of North America’s top fleets, Jason has survived experiences across truckload, refrigerated freight, cross-border operations, and complex supply...

Some voices in trucking don’t just tell the story… they are the story. 🚚 Ingrid Brown - Operations Manager at Blackjack Express LLC and a professional driver - brings 46 years of trucking experience to the Driving Forward Podcast, joining Nate Johnson for this conversation. From hauling specialized refrigerated and oversize freight to advising on safety at the national level, Ingrid brings a pers...

At MATS, the real conversations are happening across the floor, in the shop, and between industry leaders comparing what’s actually working. In this episode of the Driving Forward Podcast, Nate Johnson and Robert Bain kick things off with a recap of key takeaways from MATS before diving into a series of panel conversations with leaders across trucking and logistics. From fuel efficiency strategies...

At TMC 2026, one theme kept surfacing across every conversation: Fleet maintenance technology is a strategic advantage. In this special compilation episode of the Driving Forward Podcast, Nate Johnson speaks with leaders across fleet maintenance, telematics, and transportation technology about what’s really changing behind the scenes. From modern maintenance platforms to real-time visibility, AI-d...

Join Nate Johnson on the Driving Forward Podcast with Grace Sharkey, Senior Manager of Communications & PR at Orderful, as they prepare to discuss the trends shaping transportation, logistics, and the supply chain today - and the question many leaders are trying to answer: 👉 Where is freight really heading next? In this upcoming episode:• How FreightTech and data connectivity are changing ope...

What’s actually happening inside trucking right now? At the 2026 Truckload Carriers Association Annual Conference, Nate Johnson sat down with leaders across the freight industry discussing what’s shaping the next chapter in trucking. Their conversations explore: • How AI is starting to automate dispatch, load booking, and operational workflows • Why modern TMS platforms are adding intelligence lay...

This week, we’re revisiting a powerful past conversation between Nate Johnson and Kristy Knichel, CEO of Knichel Logistics. It may be a rerun, but the lessons are as relevant as ever. From freight fraud to recession pressure to disciplined technology investment, this episode covers the real forces shaping freight markets behind the scenes and what strong operators are doing about them. Key Topics...

Freight leadership isn’t built in boardrooms, it’s built in the moments that test you. In this week’s episode of Driving Forward, Nate Johnson is joined by Will Jenkins (Journey) and Bill Champine (Venture Logistics) for real talk on the weight leaders carry across fleets, operations, and technology. This conversation gets into the pressure behind the decisions, the people behind the performance,...

Manifest 2026 was less “trade show” and more “the industry showed up to work.” In this recap episode of Driving Forward, Nate Johnson sits down with Robert Bain, Susan Mayo, Jennie Malafarina and Danielle Spinelli to unpack what made this year feel different: real business happening in real time, with 8,800+ attendees and calendars packed with decision-making meetings. A few big themes surfaced:...

Capacity is tightening. Rates are under pressure. And more freight is spilling into the spot market. Oliver Jones (Co-Founder & CEO of Manifold Freight), Chris Ceausu (Founder of White Arrow Trucking), and Cole Stevens (Director of Strategy & Business Development at Stevens Trucking) joins Nate Johnson to explore how today’s freight market is being experienced across technology, operations...

Freight markets don’t care about your legacy, and family businesses don’t get a “pause” button when the cycle turns. We’re joined by Mike McDonough for a straight-shooting conversation on what it really takes to lead a family-run transportation company in today’s market. We get into the realities behind the numbers: staying disciplined when rates move, protecting service without giving away the fa...

Join Nate Johnson along with Dale Prax and Danielle Spinelli as they cover the very real (and very messy) world of cybercrime, cargo theft, and freight fraud — how it all connects, and the big question everyone’s wondering: Are we actually getting better at stopping it? In this episode:• Why fraud and cargo theft are bigger than just lost dollars• How fake carriers, identity fraud, and double brok...

Manifest has quickly become a place where business gets done in the supply chain, not just ideas and not just panels. In this conversation, Nate Johnson and Robert Bain are joined by Katie Date, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations & Strategic Initiatives at Manifest, to break down what’s driving that momentum. Katie pulls back the curtain on how Manifest has evolved into a true end-to-...