Driving Forward Podcast

What if driver health was treated as a safety issue, not just a benefits issue? Trucking invests heavily in safer equipment, better technology, and reducing risk on the road. But the health of the person behind the wheel deserves a place in that conversation, too. Nate Johnson is joined by Jeremy Reymer of Project 61 and Jason Douglass for a conversation about the realities of driver health and what the industry can do to help driv...

Are truck drivers and owner-operators better off in 2026? And what can trucking companies do to recruit and retain drivers as fuel costs, operating expenses, and driver expectations change?Nate Johnson talks with Alex Mai, better known as ‪@MuthaTrucker‬, about what he’s hearing directly from drivers and how those concerns look from the fleet side of the business.They discuss rising diesel costs, the proposed October 1 trucke...

What does trucking look like from the driver’s seat? Over the years, Driving Forward has had the opportunity to hear directly from professional drivers as they've shared their experiences with our host, Nate Johnson. This National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, we’re bringing some of those conversations back together. In this special Driver Edition of Driving Forward, we’ve compiled moments from previous episodes...

What does 22 years in trucking teach you about building a business? Tristan Bordallo has experienced the industry from several sides: entrepreneur, asset-based fleet owner, founder, advisor, investor... He’s also been open about one of the hardest chapters of that journey: shutting down the trucking company he spent eight years building. Each chapter has given him a different perspective on what it takes to build, adapt, and ...

The paperwork says you're compliant, but can your operations prove it?

👉 Who are you trusting to move freight?

👉 How are those partners being vetted?

👉 Can you demonstrate your cybersecurity practices?

👉 Are your compliance programs prepared for greater scrutiny?

Those questions are becoming harder to ignore as regulations change, freight fraud continues to expose weaknesses across the supply chain, and programs like CTPAT and T...

Was your tech stack carefully built, or accumulated?

• A TMS selected years ago.
• Systems that don’t communicate the way they should.
• Spreadsheets filling gaps they were never designed to fill.
• Software still being paid for but barely used.
• And now, an explosion of AI tools promising another layer of efficiency.

The question isn’t simply “What technology should we buy next?” It’s “What problem a...

You know what your trucks, equipment, and customers are worth. But is the rest of your business ready for someone to look under the hood?Growth, profitability, legal exposure, technology, customer expectations, and changing regulations all compete for attention. The decisions made in one area often create consequences somewhere else in the business.This week on Driving Forward, Nate Johnson sits down with Doug Grawe, Owner & CE...

Choosing a TMS is a major decision. But once the contract is signed, the real work begins.A TMS implementation can shape how your business operates for years. Go-live is a major milestone, but getting there without losing momentum, blowing the budget, or overwhelming the team takes more than a solid project plan.This week on Driving Forward, Nate Johnson leads a conversation about what it takes to implement and support an enterpris...

What did the last 4 years in this market teach us that we can't afford to forget? Recorded at TCA Refrigerated, Nate Johnson sits down with several respected trucking leaders who have spent decades building successful fleets through good markets and bad. Randy Marten | CEO & Chairman of Marten Transport Pam Wiers | CFO of Dutch Maid Logistics Ken Johnson | Executive Chairman of Leonard's Express Ashley Kordish | CEO of Ralph Mo...

When the freight market gets interesting, experience matters. On this episode of Driving Forward, Nate Johnson is joined by Kyle Kottke, General Manager at Kottke Trucking, Inc., for a conversation on what it takes to lead through change in trucking. From navigating market volatility and payment pressure to protecting temperature-sensitive freight when conditions are anything but predictable, Kyle brings insight shaped by years in ...

The freight market is improving. But better rates don’t solve old problems. After years of fighting through one of the toughest freight cycles, carriers and brokers are facing a different challenge: deciding how to grow without making the same mistakes. Todd Waldron joins Nate Johnson to discuss what they're hearing across the industry, why operational flexibility matters more than ever, where technology is creating real valu...

Technology only creates value when people know how to use it. Driving Forward revisits a conversation between Nate Johnson and Dr. Gina Anderson, CEO of Luma Brighter Learning and Learning Scientist. Long before AI became the center of every conversation, Dr. Gina Anderson was helping transportation companies rethink how people learn, adapt, and embrace change. As a learning scientist and CEO of Luma Brighter Learning, Gina believe...

Pam has earned Carrier of the Year honors and worked with over 3,000 customers. But what sets her apart is turning her hardest lessons into a roadmap for the next generation of operators. 🚛 She survived her first year of asset ownership during COVID and leads 6 businesses with a mission to teach others. Welcome back Pam Polyak — 3rd generation trucking owner, primary owner of Polyak Trucking, Logistics & Consulting, and ...

The freight market is moving again, but that does not mean the pressure is gone. Rates are shifting. Capacity is tightening in some areas. Costs remain high. Carriers, brokers, and freight tech companies are still feeling the effects of a long, difficult market. Nate Johnson and Robert Bain discuss what they're hearing from transportation and logistics companies right now, including freight market conditions, sales strategy, techno...

Technology has changed. Pricing has changed. Expectations around visibility and data have changed.  But one challenge has remained the same:  How do carriers, shippers, and technology providers make better decisions with better information?   Lance Healy joins Nate Johnson to discuss what FreightFacts is launching, the current state of the industry, what’s changing in LTL, why better data matters, and how ...

Melanie Simard didn’t build her career from one side of the industry. She built it from nearly every angle possible.She started in brokerage, but decided early on that she wanted real experience on the asset side of trucking. So she got her Class 1 CDL and went driving long-haul reefer.When she was told women didn’t belong in flatbed, she went there too.From the cab to dispatch, operations, safety, and compliance leader...

Freight fraud hasn’t slowed down. It’s evolved. Cargo theft, identity fraud, phishing attacks, double brokering, fake carriers… the tactics keep changing, and the companies staying ahead are the ones paying attention to both operations and cybersecurity. In this replay of Driving Forward, Nate Johnson is joined by Dale Prax of FreightValidate, Steve Vest of Nationwide Equipment Transportation, and Robert Bain of ...

Growth in logistics rarely comes from shortcuts. It comes from consistency, accountability, and making the right decisions when they’re hardest to make. Chris Sonnek, Director of Operations at TEN Logistics, joins Nate Johnson on the Driving Forward Podcast for a conversation centered on the operational realities shaping trucking and logistics right now. With experience across truckload, LTL, warehousing, and final mile opera...

AI is showing up in every corner of trucking right now. Dispatch. Safety. Maintenance. Recruiting. Customer service. Fuel optimization. Driver communication. And for a lot of trucking company leaders, it’s becoming hard to separate what’s real from what’s just marketing noise. After months of conversations at conferences and industry events, one thing has become clear: the technology gap inside trucking is growing...