2024 marks the 10th Anniversary of the founding of LYNC Logistics, a Chattanooga-based, female-owned, freight brokerage. To celebrate, we’re looking back at LYNC’s origin stories, the evolution of the company, the unique office culture, and what the future holds for LYNC through a series of blog posts.
Before LYNC, There was Lesco
In 2013, Cindy Lee was running Lesco Logistics, a family-owned, asset-based trucking company. Just up the street was Lee-Smith, another family-owned business led by Cindy’s husband Less. Lee-Smith was the dealership that sold and serviced trucks while Lesco provided the transportation resources, from local deliveries to coast-to-coast logistics.
Lesco had a team of about 50 drivers and throughout her tenure, Cindy made a name for herself as “Momma Cindy.” Truck drivers would send her Mother’s Day Cards, bring her gifts from the road, and call to talk about their personal lives.
“I’ve always said that I talked Trucker,” Cindy explained when I asked how she managed to create such unique relationships with drivers she rarely saw in person. “I feel it’s important you value the person, no matter what job someone is doing. They just want someone who will listen or who genuinely cares about their wellbeing.” With this tenet in mind, it’s easy to see that Cindy was a successful leader.
The Idea
When asked about how the idea for LYNC Logistics evolved, Cindy recalls a particularly bad day in November of 2013; a broker from another company screwed up a load and cost Lesco over $1500.
When the company lost money, Cindy didn’t see it just as money out of her pocket, she saw it as money out of her employees’ pockets. Frustrated with the growing popularity of third-party freight brokers and losing money to the middlemen, Cindy thought, “I could do this better.”
That was the birth of LYNC Logistics. Cindy didn’t plan on growing the company too much, she saw it as an appendage to Lesco, “something to keep the trucks rolling.”