When a teenage Derek VanBlargan took a job delivering furniture following high school, he probably had no idea he was taking a big step toward a career firmly rooted in trucking.
Today, as president of Michigan-based Northern Logistics, however, he can look back and see how his route steadily progressed beginning even earlier in life.
“I grew up around heavy equipment through my grandfather’s logging business,” said VanBlargan, who holds a bachelor’s in marketing and logistics degree from Central Michigan University.
“I had plans of working on the marketing side of my degree, until I realized I would have to move to a larger city to make that happen,” he continued. “I have always enjoyed Northern Michigan, so staying around the area weighed heavily in my decisions.”
The road to Northern Logistics was a direct one.
“I met the owner of Northern Logistics at a networking night in 2007 and worked out an internship opportunity in 2008. I was hired full-time in the fall of 2008 to do sales,” he said. “I am still heavily involved in and enjoy the sales side of our business, but I’ve worked in operations for most of the last 10 years.”
VanBlargan says he enjoys the fast pace of operations, the internal and external relationships he has built, and Northern Logistics company culture.
“They have kept me interested to this day,” he said.
In his role as president of the carrier, VanBlargan works in all facets of the trucking industry, including safety, sales, and operations. Northern Logistics currently has 300 trucks dispersed at eight locations in Michigan. But it wasn’t always that way.
The company started in the early 1980s as an air expedite company, VanBlargan says. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it moved into cargo expediting, operating 15 tractors, four box trucks, and two vans. At that point, the company was moving into less than truckload (LTL) and dedicated hauling. A 3PL division followed in 2010, and in 2013, Northern Logistics purchased a flatbed division.
“Through the next 10 years, we acquired and opened additional terminals throughout Michigan, helping grow to where we are today,” he said.
As for VanBlargan, he’s grown with the company, helping train, hire, and build a cohesive team of employees to complement management. In 2023, he moved into his current role of company president.
“Before (becoming president), I worked in nearly all levels of our business, outside of driving and working on the trucks,” he said. “Here at Northern, we do not necessarily practice the traditional ‘corporate ladder’ or common infrastructure. We operate more laterally and in peer groups.
“We truly do have some of the best in the business on our team throughout every level,” he continued. “I say it a lot, but the level of accountability and ownership from top to bottom is something to be jealous of, even in my role. I give a lot of credit to our great leadership, hard work ethic, and a never give up attitude to my success.”
According to VanBlargan, Northern Logistics operates with the attitude that they’ll haul “anything that fits in their trucks,” but being in Michigan, auto parts make up a sizable portion of their business. The company’s 300 trucks log a total of 25 million miles annually delivering throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Midwest is the carrier’s primary business area, and 15 million of those 25 million miles are traversed within Michigan’s state lines.
“We have a strong presence in Michigan and a passion for the state,” VanBlargan said.
When asked what advice he’d offer other young executives, he points to a few character traits that are needed to succeed in the trucking industry.
“Communication is always going to be the first, the foremost, and the hardest,” he said. He also lists patience, self-motivation, and ownership of issues as important for someone in his (or any) position.
“You can’t play the blame game in this industry,” he said. “You have to work through the problems as they come and learn from them for the next time around.
As it relates to his company’s success, VanBlargan places the most emphasis on customer service and driver relations.
“Building a solid network of drivers, an operations team, and customers is the key. You can lean on each other through the good times and the bad,” he said.
“I have been able to be a part of and watch our growth,” he continued. “When I started in 2008, we had an operations team of five, with 25 trucks in two locations running 1.75 million miles. We now have an operations team of nearly 50, 300 trucks, and 8 locations.”
VanBlargan is quick to point out that his success is directly related to members of the Northern Logistics team.
“Having an engaged operations team that takes ownership in the business every day is definitely our driving factor,” he said. “We also have an owner who is fully supportive and engaged. Every day is a new day. The fast-paced environment keeps you on your toes.”
While VanBlargan enjoys his job, it does come with its challenges.
“The growing market fluctuations are what I like least about the industry,” he said. “It seems like the separation between the shipper and the trucking company continues to grow. Continuing to build relationships directly with the shippers and having good partners will be something I think will separate companies in the foreseeable future for growth and success.”
Assuming that the goal of a logistics business is delivering product to its final destination, VanBlargan says the front office staff plays a major role.
“Support your drivers,” he advises. “Give them as much shipment information, good equipment, and good communication as possible. We are continually investing in technology and time/operations to help make sure our drivers have as much clear and clean direction as possible to succeed.”
In addition, he says, it’s vital that a company — from the leadership down every last employee — should treat its customers, co-workers, and community with respect.
“It will help you survive almost any situation,” he said.
While VanBlargan is dedicated to his work at Northern Logistics, he says that spending time with his wife, Kelli, and their children, 11-year-old daughter Jordan and 7-year-old son Jarett, is what truly motivates him.
He and the family enjoy upper Michigan and spend a lot of summers and winters there at one of their two cabins. As might be expected for the area, he does a lot of snowmobiling, but the summers are kept busy by his daughter’s traveling softball team.
Derek VanBlargan is a highly successful businessman who has learned to strike a work-family balance – something a successful carrier like Northern Logistics encourages for all its employees.
Photo courtesy of Derek VanBlargan
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2024 edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.
Since retiring from a career as an outdoor recreation professional from the State of Arkansas, Kris Rutherford has worked as a freelance writer and, with his wife, owns and publishes a small Northeast Texas newspaper, The Roxton Progress. Kris has worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has authored seven books of his own. He became interested in the trucking industry as a child in the 1970s when his family traveled the interstates twice a year between their home in Maine and their native Texas. He has been a classic country music enthusiast since the age of nine when he developed a special interest in trucking songs.
