Renee Krug recently won the fourth annual 2018 Women In Trucking Association’s Distinguished Woman in Logistics Award. With more than 15 years of executive leadership experience and more than seven years of logistics industry experience, Krug joined GlobalTranz four years ago and helped grow the organization from $400 million to $1 billion in annual revenue during that time. Before her career at GlobalTranz, Krug started in technology. She initially studied computer programming before taking some accounting and finance classes.
Upon graduation, Krug worked for Honeywell, where she ended up leading the technology team and the company’s Oracle updates and implementations. She moved to Swift Transportation, one of the largest TL carriers in the country.
“They hadn’t done a lot of automation or process improvement,” she said. “We had a lot of fun there implementing lots of things to drive automation, save money for the company, and make it a better process.”
At Swift, Krug also worked with owner-operator settlements, driver payroll, and all the back-office processing involving freight rates and detention. From there, she went on to be CFO for Clear Channel, then was recommended by someone on the board at GlobalTranz.
“What attracted me to GlobalTranz is it was such a great story,” Krug explained. “The company started as a small business in 2003 and grew rapidly. We continue to have a very great story and growth. The company is fun; it has a great vibe. We have wonderful teams here that work to drive the process that we serve our customers well. That’s important to me.”
Krug was instrumental in creating CORE, GlobalTranz’s corporate responsibility program that implements initiatives to serve the needs of the Phoenix community, ensure company-wide social responsibility, and lessen the organization’s carbon footprint on the environment. She is also involved with numerous charity and nonprofit organizations, such as Feed My Starving Children, National Charity League, The Jared Box Project, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and the Back to School Drive.
And when it comes to staying motivated in her work every day, Krug said she’s driven by GlobalTranz’s desire to build the best technology innovations in the market.
“We have this wonderful culture here that I love very much,” she explained. “We’re nimble and quick to adapt to change. We’re customer-focused. When you’re succeeding and you’re doing all the right things and customers are happy and carriers are happy, it’s a great place to be.”
Krug also pointed out that in the last five years or so, she has seen more and more women entering the industry, either in leadership roles or as drivers. And across the board, she added, women are getting involved in logistics at every level.
According to Krug, one of the top players at GlobalTranz is the head of operations logistically. She books all the loads for the company’s agents and “is just fantastic,” Krug said.
“Whether you’re doing a carrier-support role, whether you’re a driver, whether you’re here in finance, I think it’s important that everybody just strive to be the best and not be afraid to take that next challenge,” Krug noted. “I also feel it’s important for everyone to surround themselves with talent.”
And for women in the field who are reluctant to move forward, Krug said don’t be. She added that even though taking the next step might seem scary, it’s the right thing to do.
