Tom Curee, senior vice president of strategy and innovation of Kingsgate Logistics, joined FreightWaves Chief Strategy Officer John “JT” Engstrom on this episode of the FreightWavesTV show, “Fuller Speed Ahead,” to promote the company’s active role in Cincinnati’s freight-tech scene, which he called “the Silicon Valley of freight.”
Kingsgate leverages the latest technology to offer a full scope of logistics services, including truckload, LTL, expedited, intermodal and international shipping. According to Curee, the West Chester, Ohio-based company has grown to an employee count over 90 and is opening satellite offices.
“One of the biggest strategies we had for 2019 was around becoming more creative and innovative as a company,” he said. “At the core of who we are, we talk a lot about the word ‘restlessness.’”
The word is posted around the office as a reminder that clients, carriers and shippers expect a high level of technological offerings.
Curee added that Kingsgate had recently partnered with Xavier University to create a course on design thinking to better understand the user experience. Kingsgate has also opened an office in the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub, joining large local employers such as Procter and Gamble (P&G), Cincinnati Bell, Fifth Third Bank and Kroger Technology, among others that are moving their innovation teams to the district to create a collaborative and cohesive environment of logistical problem-solving.
Merry and Tom Beckham founded Kingsgate in 1986 in the basement of their home, according to the company’s website. The couple’s children bought the company in 2008, maintaining Kingsgate’s family-owned lineage.
“One of the things that’s special about us is that we still service our first two clients from 33 years ago,” Curee said. “That’s unheard of in logistics when you’re looking at a turnover every four to five years or so.”
He continued, “That speaks a lot to our culture. When you’re able to create lifelong relationships like that and layer not only the relational piece of it but include what we’re doing from an innovation standpoint, it creates really strong partnerships for us as an organization.”