The TA Difference: Lessons from TA Leadership – Charles Dismuke, CFO

As part of our reflection on our journey to 35 years serving the logistics industry, we recently had the chance to catch up with President and CEO, Scott Schell to discuss our 35-year milestone achievement.

Up next in our Lessons from Leadership series, we chat with CFO, Charles Dismuke, to see what he thinks about this major milestone achievement.

Q: Charles, since joining TA Services back in 2013, you’ve witnessed many advances in logistics technology in the industry as a whole. What is the most exciting change you have seen?

A: I think the most exciting change for TA was converting to McLeod after we joined the PS Logistics family of companies as the premier non-asset division. It was like the lights went on – we actually had cutting edge technology that we could use to help grow our business from a productivity standpoint. It was a huge game changer because it gave us a platform with greater visibility of all our daily supply chain activities. It also gave us the opportunity to really start communicating and connecting with our customers at a higher level. We’ve continued to build on that evolution over the last seven years so to think about where we started to where we are now is just amazing.

Q: What does the next 35 years look like for TA Services?

A: You know, we’re seeing a lot of technological advances right now from fully autonomous vehicles to delivery drones that could have a significant impact on the physical delivery of goods. I think we will also continue to form a greater sense of connectedness between everyone in the supply chain as more information is shared throughout the supply chain in order to keep up with on-demand shipping across the globe. This is becoming the new norm. While all the technological advances to come will surely be exciting and game changing in many ways, the key to it all will be the relationships and trust that is built daily by going the extra mile. That’s the “secret sauce” that will continue to deliver great results today, tomorrow, and 35 years from now.

Q: When you reflect on your time with TA Services to date, what are you most proud of?

A: Our ability to adapt our business and grow our service offerings as the market and shipping trends change to best serve our People, our Customers, and our Carrier Partners. We’ve had to rethink and look at things from our Customers’ and Carrier Partners’ standpoints to understand how to do things better, smarter, more effectively, and more efficiently. We at TA Services are really good at being bold and trying new things and even failing at times. I think learning from our mistakes and working together as a team to better solve problems is critical. Because of our ability to do that, we’ve grown exponentially over a relatively short period of time. Putting our People, our Customers and our Carrier Partners first is something I am really proud of.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give shippers when they are evaluating 3PL partners?

A: Know who you are partnering with and what values and culture they bring to your organization. There are a lot of new 3PL companies entering the supply chain space and this is exciting to help advance supply chain innovation and push us all to be better at what we do. While technology and data are critical elements for sure, it is the next steps in coming up with solutions that utilize those tools and data analysis to deliver results. You need a 3PL partner that will take the time to fully understand the needs of your organization and develop best fit solutions that match those needs. Further, you need a partner that you can trust to be there with you through the ups and downs in the market, through tight or excess capacity, and will be with you for the long-haul. Our founder, Pat Porritt started the business with a handshake deal with one Customer and now 35 years later, through numerous business cycles and changes in ownership, we still have that Customer and highly value the relationships we have developed over the years. We continue to build on that legacy and look forward to the next 35 years working day in and day out to make ship happen for our People, our Customers, and our Carrier Partners.