Humble Beginnings: A Q&A with TA’s Founding Members

To gain a better understanding of the origin of TA Services and the freight brokerage solutions the company brings to North America, we spoke with two of the four founding members of TA Services (formerly known as Team America), Jackie Askelson and Dale Hughes. If a company is akin to a child, think of Jackie and Dale as its parents, lovingly fostering growth and independence.

In this Q&A, we chat with Jackie and Dale about what led them to start a brokerage company in Midlothian, Texas some decades back and their thoughts on the journey that has led TA Services to be the world-class 3PL provider we are today.

First up: Jackie Askelson, Vice President of Operations – Midlothian, TX

Q: Jackie, I loved talking with you about the “good old days” and learning how different the brokerage world was back then. Can you take us back 35 years ago and tell us more about how TA Services got its humble beginnings?

A: Well, 35 years ago, we were over in a small storage shed basically. And after that, then we had just a couple offices. Originally there were four or five people running things – Dale, myself, Pat, and Joanne Porritt (the four original founders), and a guy by the name of Randy. When we first started working together, we all worked for a trucking company up in Minnesota, mostly shipping grain products out of North Dakota and bringing lumber products back in.

Well, all of a sudden, the lumber died down and we couldn’t get anything coming back to the Midwest. We’d heard from a driver of ours that there was a steel company in Midlothian, Texas (Gerdau Steel, formerly known as Chaparral Steel) and we started taking some loads for them back down to Texas. While still working for the Minnesota trucking company, we ended up opening an office in Cedar Hill, TX. Pat asked me if I would come down and take over operations, so I did. Then, a year later, Pat, Joanne, and Dale came down too. One thing led to another, and we ended up breaking off from the Minnesota trucking company and formed our own brokerage which we named Team America and we moved to Midlothian, TX to better service the steel mill. 35 years later, we’re still here on-site with them helping to run daily operations.

Q: Can you tell us more about what this industry was like before so many technological advances?

A: Things were much different back then. We didn’t even have computers. It was all far more manual. We used paper and a lot of ink. We’d have to fill out all the driver’s information – tractor trailer, VIN numbers, plate numbers, drivers’ license, date of birth, etc. I’d have a file with all these driver’s names and information. They’d have to sign our legal documents and then we would give them advances if they needed running money.

Then we’d have to call them. They’d have a beeper (or a pager) on them back in the day so you could reach them. If not, you’d have to guess where they went to eat lunch to track them down and offer them a load. So yeah, it’s a lot different now than what it was in the beginning. If I’m being honest, I kind of miss the old days. It was definitely more challenging, but that was part of the fun of it. The internet has helped to make things more efficient for everyone, but I still miss the thrill of hunting down a driver.

Now let’s hear from Dale Hughes, Vice President of Mill Services – Midlothian, TX

Q: Dale, it’s clear that TA Services has come a long way since its former glory days as “Team America”. There have been many changes over the last three and a half decades. Can you tell us what, among those changes, stand out to you the most?

A: I’d say the biggest change that stands out to me is probably when the mill plant changed ownership and went from Chaparral Steel to Gerdau. It was important to us to continue nurturing our relationship with the company who helped start it all for us, so learning their new procedures and operations was crucial to maintaining the relationship we’d already developed with Chaparral Steel. At the beginning of our partnership with Gerdau, we started with one truck in the mill and within a year and a half, we had six trucks in the mill running 24 hours each day, seven days each week. 35 years later, that hasn’t stopped – we still run 6 trucks for them here on-site in Midlothian, day and night. Only now, we also do the same thing for them on a slightly smaller scale in Petersburg, Virginia.

Q: When you guys started Team America, you obviously had plans to start in the brokerage business, but did you have any plans or goals to expand beyond that into a full-service 3PL provider?

Dale: No, not really. It just… evolved over time. We were here initially to help the steel mill. We made a promise to never let it shut down and we’ve delivered on that promise more than three decades later. And we’ll continue to for as long as we’re able. TA Services is here to help – we can make it work, whatever is asked of us.

Jackie: I don’t think we ever thought it would get this big. We thought we’d be a small company, just loading trucks. When we joined the P&S family, it grew a lot faster. Things got a lot more diversified and now we’re all over the country.

Q: It’s no secret that the TA Services culture is second to none. We’re curious, what is your favorite thing about TA Services?

Jackie: Well, I think we’re very friendly. We try to help in any way we can. We make friends with our customers and carrier partners and we’re loyal to them. If we say we’re going to do something, we do it. We’re true to our word. We’ll always do whatever it takes to go that extra mile, every mile for our partnerships and to provide the best customer service.

Dale what about you? What do you LOVE about TA Services?
Dale: The people and the relationships I’ve made. We have the best people. They become friends and you get to a point where you rely on each other. Many of them came in when they were 19 or 20. We’ve seen them get married, go on to have kids, work through struggles and celebrate victories. I get to come in and see the great work they’re doing. It’s rewarding to know that TA helps provide an opportunity for them and their families to have a good life.

While TA Services is a North American leading provider of freight brokerage solutions, they also specialize in several other sectors of the supply chain such as warehouse logistics, cross-border logistics, and managed transportation services.

Check out our other posts on TA Services’ 35th Anniversary:
Celebrating 35 Years: A Letter of Gratitude and Appreciation from TA Services’ CEO Scott Schell
The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – Scott Schell, CEO
The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – Charles Dismuke, CFO
The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – Brady Thames, VP Sales & Marketing
The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – David Bowers, VP Warehouse Operations
The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – Chris Bahr, VP, Brokerage Operations
Putting Its People First: In Celebration of 35 Years of Success, TA Services Gives Back