Effective leaders not only have the ability to motivate and encourage their team during good times, but maybe even more importantly, during difficult or challenging times. One such leader is Matthew Telesca, President and CEO of MGN Logistics, Inc. Matt is a determined leader with a vision that has helped him build his company and successfully lead it. He has combined the core values of Technology, Innovation and Dedication, to take his company from a small business to a major competitor in the market.
As the President and CEO, the executive team of MGN looks to Matt for a laser focused executable plan. In response, he regularly holds executive meetings to ensure they are on track to meet their corporate goals and achieve their strategic vision. He works with his team to ensure that those departments which are struggling, feel supported and motivated to catch up to the rest. While monitoring financial reporting remains an important part of their overall business health; employee satisfaction, customer retention and the ability to maintain a positive and cohesive work environment has been the ultimate gauge of their success. Matt regularly receives employee and customer feedback which allows him to maintain a high level of “corporate culture” and positive customer engagement. This works hand in hand with allowing him to execute his short and long term growth strategy.
Building a Company
With a strong background in finance and business logistics, and an intense interest in technology, Matt founded MGN Logistics in a small town in Pennsylvania, May of 2000. Originally a traditional truckload brokerage, Matt was intent on delivering a web-based solution using the newest technology available, where customers could easily set up accounts, rate shipments, schedule transportation, create shipping documents and track and manage their freight online.
Since then, MGN Logistics has evolved into a leading provider of technology solutions for the freight management and transportation industry. MGN provides customers with a state-of-the-art proprietary Transportation Management System (TMS) which includes robust supply chain management tools, such as rate optimization, carrier selection, automated tracking and tracing, freight bill auditing and payment, along with business intelligence and analytical tools. Unlike their competitors, who simply provide software, and leave the management of the technology directly to the customer with little help, MGN provides comprehensive expertise and full service management ranging from small parcel, LTL, Truckload, intermodal, rail, ocean, air and international freight. Their software is cloud-based, with easy integration as a standalone or bolt-on application. And all their personnel are highly knowledgeable and experienced logistics professionals who are assigned individually to each account, never leaving the customer looking for help.
Upcoming Products
MGN is proud to announce the upcoming launch of MarketMaker Pricing, a sophisticated aggregator of truckload metadata. This data is compiled and analyzed with advanced algorithms providing historical market highs, lows, averages and MarketMaker’s proprietary spot market rate. The rate is calculated based on real-time spot market truck availability, along with dozens of other big data influencers, such as traffic, weather and road condition. Nothing in the market currently exists like this.
MarketMaker Pricing will be a subscription-based web application, which will compile billions of freight payment dollars from various industry sources, making it the most comprehensive aggregator in the industry.
Set to launch later this year, MarketMaker is poised to revolutionize how the trucking industry provides spot-market truckload rates.
MGN’s Growth
Through the years, MGN has stood out as not only visionary but with the exceptional ability to provide creative technology solutions for their clients that have broad appeal to multiple sectors of their industry.
Since 2010, MGN has grown over 400%, landing on INC Magazine’s prestigious list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies,” 3 years in a row. Matt shares, “one of the many challenges faced with such explosive growth, has been the balance between increasing capital expenditures and hiring, while maintaining positive cash flow.” Many times during their growth period they have needed to pause personnel hiring to allow cash flow and profitability to catch up.
Referring to the company’s growth Matt asserts, “Our growth plan has been two fold; first we have continued to add new customers and build on existing relationships to grow organically. And second, we have put together a number of strategic acquisitions which have thrust us forward with not only new customers, but additionally, technological advances.”
Work Ethics of MGN
One of the most important qualities Matt looks for in hiring is ‘a commitment to excellence, and a multitasking mindset,’ with the ability to stay fully engaged in current responsibilities. He has built his organization with individuals that take exceptional pride in their work, and are always willing to go above customer expectations. This has served them extremely well in customer retention and referrals for new business. Their DNA of success has been to consistently push the envelope of their customer’s expectations and under promise, while overperforming. This work ethic can be seen throughout their organization as employees make that belief as a core part of their commitment.
Innovative Freight Solutions for Clients
“Year after year our clients continue to be surprised at the level of innovative freight management solutions we present,” says Matt. He is a firm believer of the idea, “if we can imagine it, then we can develop it.” This resourcefulness has given his team and customers a tremendous competitive edge. Even their longtime clients continue to benefit from their ongoing product development and innovation. As they introduce new technologies and solutions they often ask for their existing clients’ feedback and assessments. This has helped to create a unique user experience and level of trust and insight that companies rarely achieve. This acute information helps to feed their ongoing commitment to outperform their customer’s expectations and the competition.
A Successful Leader
With a clear vision of growth and ongoing execution of that vision, Matt has managed to grow his company exponentially year over year. His projection over the course of the next two years states, “We will double revenue from current levels. This isn’t a real stretch, as we have managed to double revenue every two years for the past six.”
Matt’s leadership has been recognized by various newspapers and magazines and he has appeared on television broadcasts including Fox Business News series “InView.” Most recently, he was highlighted in the cover story of CIOReview, a technology-related magazine.