Rock Stars of the Supply Chain: Ryder’s Chad Cross Named Overall Top Transportation Professional

Chad Cross, senior director of customer logistics for Ryder System Inc., was named an overall winner of the Top Transportation Professional category for this year’s Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award, presented by Food Logistics.

As the senior director of customer logistics, Cross plays a pivotal role in leading Ryder’s transportation management (TM) service offering for the company’s consumer packaged goods (CPG) vertical. His responsibilities involve managing the transportation needs of over a dozen customers with combined freight volumes exceeding $1 billion annually. As a primary point of contact for both internal teams and customers, Cross oversees the full spectrum of transportation operations, from business intelligence and analytics to carrier management, ensuring the effective deployment of resources and the seamless coordination of logistics activities. His role also involves constant monitoring and analysis of transportation metrics to identify areas for improvement and opportunities to enhance the overall transportation network, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), such as on-time delivery rates and cost efficiencies, and using this information to implement process improvements and cost-saving measures.

Over the past 12 months, Cross has made significant strides in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of Ryder’s TM operations. By developing and refining data analytics capabilities, he enabled teams to make faster, more informed decisions on critical operational matters, helping to optimize supply chain performance and improve customer service. He also played a crucial role in driving the evolution of financial performance measurement across multiple business units at Ryder. He spearheaded efforts to standardize and improve financial reporting, providing the executive leadership team with enhanced visibility into key financial metrics across the transportation network. Cross also launched a new project aimed at developing criteria and dashboarding for applying risk scores to shipments, particularly in the beverage industry. This helps to identify shipments requiring protect-from-freeze measures, significantly reducing the manual efforts needed for monitoring and ensuring the integrity of temperature-sensitive products. 

What sets Cross apart from others in the transportation space are his extensive and diverse experience across multiple facets of the industry, his versatility and leadership style and is ability to collect and leverage data to inform and drive actionable insights.

Cross was recently promoted to group director of customer logistics, Ryder System, Inc., and over the next 12 months, plans to significantly grow the company’s TM book of business while enhancing the customer experience for existing clients.

We talked exclusively with Cross about the importance of staying close to challenges and opportunities and why transportation management is a rewarding career.

Food Logistics: Let’s first talk about you. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to get to this current stage in your career?

Chad Cross: I got my start in logistics as an intern for Domino’s Pizza, which few people know is much more of a supply chain company than a pizza company. Domino’s makes the majority of its revenue delivering pizza-making supplies and equipment to franchisees than from actually selling pizza. That experience was a great springboard, after finishing a double major in marketing and logistics at Central Michigan University in 2011. The same year, I landed at Ryder as coordinator in the freight bill and audit department and then moved throughout the Ryder transportation management world with supporting roles in engineering, procurement, implementations, and business intelligence and analytics, before landing in operations in 2018. During that time. I also pursued an MBA in global supply chain management from Keller University. In 2018, I joined Ryder’s consumer packaged goods or CPG vertical and helped launch a large beverage account, which eventually led to taking on several more accounts and moving into a director role. In 2020, I led the vertical through a pandemic and the countless challenges it posed. My time at Ryder has provided the opportunity for me to meet, be mentored by, and work alongside some of the most talented minds in supply chain industry, preparing me for the role I play today.

Food Logistics: One of the things outlined in your submission is how you played a pivotal role in leading Ryder’s transportation management service offering for the company’s consumer packaged goods vertical. Walk us through what this looks like.

Cross: Like many industries, the CPG industry is facing a margin crisis due to rising costs, supply chain challenges, and consumers becoming less tolerant of price increases. Ryder’s job is to fully optimize our customer’s end-to-end supply chains to continually improve productivity and efficiency, which lead to greater cost savings for our customers.

My team manages the transportation piece of the supply chain for more than a dozen customers with combined freight volumes exceeding $1 billion annually, and they’re all counting on my team to continually drive waste out of their transportation networks. We do that by constantly monitoring and analyzing metrics – key performance indicators such as on-time delivery rates and cost efficiencies, for example – to proactively identify opportunities to improve and enhance their overall transportation networks. Good business intelligence and analytics tools are critical, but it’s not just about having access to data; it’s about knowing what to do with it to inform better decision making. That’s the key.

Food Logistics: You’ve also made great strides in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of Ryder’s TM operations. What does this entail? And, why is this important?

Cross: Managing network operations is full of complexity and ambiguity, yet understanding network health and performance is a critical aspect of determining whether or not a particular solution and network is operating efficiently. So, we’ve developed standardized metrics and KPIs that give our operators visibility into a network’s performance, with the right insight at the right time to allow for full network control and continuous improvement. This ensures we have our finger on the pulse of network performance and can proactively identify areas of additional opportunity in an agile and effective manner.

Food Logistics: One of the goals outlined in your application is to grow the TM business, enhance the customer service experience and expand your expertise. How do you plan to do all of this? What are the next steps?

Cross: Ensuring that we positioned to support our customers and continue to drive value day in and out is critical to our business. Staying close to the challenges and opportunities that present themselves today and on the near horizon is key to ensuring we are staying nimble in a fast-paced and ever-changing transportation landscape. Understanding what is most important to our customers and the obstacles that stand in the way of success, so that we can ensure we are working to drive innovation through systems and processes that drive value to the industry and our customers. Ensuring we are developing our people and staying at the forefront of technological advancements is how we will continue to grow the TM business and enhance our customer experience.

Food Logistics: If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what would you tell him?

Cross: Interesting question. I would tell my younger self to take advantage of the opportunities to meet and listen to leaders around the workplace as much as possible. Ask questions and do not be afraid to seek out advice from those around you. Appreciate each project and opportunity as it will serve as a foundation for something “tomorrow.” Often, we can get caught up in the challenges of today and focus on fire-fighting the immediate problems at hand and not be able to take a breath and appreciate what we are accomplishing and/or learning from the current situation. Tough times today become the foundations for quicker decision-making tomorrow. Work hard and trust that this hard work will translate into success and opportunity in the future.

Food Logistics: The Top Transportation Professional recognizes professionals in the transportation space. What advice do you have for other transportation professionals or even those looking to join the transportation space?

Cross: Supply chain and transportation management was not something most ever even thought about until a worldwide pandemic brought it to the forefront. Transportation is an exciting and evolving area of supply chain that presents new challenges every single day. Transportation management is for those interested in a job that offers a challenging yet rewarding career with opportunities to grow. The landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade and promises to change even more in the next. A strong work ethic, solid communication skills, and the willingness to deal with ambiguity are all that is really needed to get started.

Highlights from Cross’ submission:

• Cross maintains 13-plus years of experience in transportation and supply chain management.
• Cross also played a crucial role in driving the evolution of financial performance measurement across multiple business units at Ryder. He spearheaded efforts to standardize and improve financial reporting, providing the executive leadership team with enhanced visibility into key financial metrics across the transportation network.