Jimmy DeMatteis, CTB, President & CEO of Des Moines Truck Brokers was honored by the national Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) with the 2017 Heritage Award presented at their 39th annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 18.
The Heritage Award is the most respected honor in the logistics industry. It recognizes exceptional industry leadership and long standing support of the TIA, the premier organization for third-party logistics professionals in North America and over 1,600 members.
In reflecting on his career, Jimmy wrote the following:
30 years ago, in April of 1987, I attended my very first trade association conference. We had joined the TBCA (Transportation Brokers Conference of America). I was curious to see what others in our industry were doing and determine if this would be a fit for DMTB. I spent two days at the Adams Mark Hotel in Houston, TX exchanging business cards with other brokers (Logistics and 3PL were tags we didn’t use then) and learning everything I could about how these other brokers ran
****
James R. DeMatteis, (l-r) CTB accepts Heritage Award from Jason Beardall, chair,and Robert Voltman, president and CEO, Transportation Intermediaries Association.
****
their businesses. I returned to our office in Norwalk, IA with a few ideas I could try and found some were good for us. I met some people at that conference that have long since become friends.
I was excited to return to the next conference the following year in Las Vegas. My Dad was very much in charge those days and he pulled rank and took along Rick Demory one of our retired colleagues who is also a very good friend and golfing buddy of my Dad. When they returned home I was excited to hear if their experience was as good as mine. Who did they meet? What were the hot topics? Anything new we needed to be on top of? To my chagrin Dad said, “Oh we went to one meeting, but the weather was great so we played golf for three straight days!” I decided then I would be attending the future conferences.
Since that meeting in Las Vegas I have only missed two conferences, one with the passing of my son in law and the other due to a severe case of pneumonia. The industry has changed drastically and so has DMTB. We worked from a Roladex and yes I do still have mine. No CTBs (Certified Truck Brokers), no computer, no website, no electronic invoices or payments, no real time electronic tracking and tracing, no portals that allow our customers to enter an order or check its status, no apps that allow our carriers to send a proof of delivery or receive a load confirmation instantly; shoot we didn’t even have cell phones… Contracts? Nope. Just our word and a promise to do things ethically with no excuses.
20 years ago the TBCA became TIA (Transportation Intermediaries Association). By then we had a computer, fax machine, email, contracts, and a documented Code of Ethics. All of this and more due to our involvement with TIA. All of these tools allowed us to grow. We built our business on relationships by exceeding expectations, paying our carriers very fast, and we still followed Dad’s lead to keep our word and make no excuses.
11 years ago I became President of DMTB and was honored to be elected to the TIA board of Directors. Permitting me to work side by side with some of Logistics best minds, many of whom have become dear friends. While serving on the board, we started the TIAPAC and I was asked to be our first PAC Chairman, a role I played for six years. This allowed us to create a voice in Washington. We started Legislative fly-ins to allow our members to walk the halls of DC and meet face to face with transportation and infrastructure members of Congress. We went from obscurity to a respected voice for transportation and supply chain. Today nearly 17,000 companies are licensed property brokers. TIA membership represents the top 10% of the industry and accounting for over 60% of our $166 Billion commerce. That’s four times the candy industry and one and a half times the beer industry!
In April of this year Ben Batten, CTB became a partner at DMTB. Ben, Jim Walstrom, CTB (our Operations Manager), and I traveled to Las Vegas for the 2017 TIA Conference. Prior to leaving we found out DMTB made Transport Topics Top 100 Freight Broker list! I attended my final board meeting at TIA and reflected on what we have accomplished as an industry. There is still more to accomplish and we have great leadership in place.
General George Patton once said, “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way”. At DMTB our entire operations staff has earned their CTB from TIA. We currently have six new members of our team either testing or studying to test for their CTB. We have individuals that have taken leadership roles in UFPA, IMTA, and IGIA. We have a culture built on participation with each member of our team taking their turn leading our monthly company team meetings. There is a sign posted in our Ops room that says 100/0. 100% effort 0 excuses. We will celebrate our 48th year in business this June. We continue to experience double digit growth in staff, load count, revenue and more importantly benevolence. For this we are humbled and grateful to all of you.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way…No excuses.
(The son of a truck driver, I’ve known Jimmy DeMatteis for nearly 30 years. My congratulations on a well deserved award! When I think of Jimmy and DMTB, I think of honesty, integrity and someone who does things the right way. — Bill Martin)