President of SEKO on collaboration, cultural differences, and upcoming trends in logistics

Today I’m in conversation with James Gagne, President & CEO of Seko Logistics. James brings with him 24 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry, and has spent significant time in China heading up companies like Agility and DB Schenker. During this time, he’s also headed multiple M&As. “Consolidation” is something that is becoming increasingly common in the logistics industry in North America, so I’m sure that experience comes in very handy! SEKO has undergone tremendous growth over the years, and has also recently got in to a strategic collaboration with Hermes Logistics in Germany. I’m really excited to talk to James today about various topics such as the biggest challenges in logistics and freight forwarding, how do we bridge the talent gap in logistics, how do we solve for the truck driver shortages, what is the future of cross-border eCommerce and what kinds of innovative partnerships we need to forge going forward. QUESTIONS JAMES ANSWERED: Let’s start with an introduction to yourself and your role at SEKO. What are some of the biggest challenges in logistics and freight forwarding today? What keeps you up at night? With logistics going digital, there seems to be a big talent gap in the industry. How do we solve for that? You’ve spent a considerable part of your career in China – what would you say are the biggest differences between working in logistics in North America vs China? How do we solve for the truck driver shortages? SEKO has recently gotten into a strategic collaboration with Hermes in Germany – why, and what impact do you expect it to have? What’s the top most innovative idea/solution in your space you’ve heard of recently that you’re keen to explore? It seems that companies cannot work in isolation. Strategic partnerships are the way forward. What does an ideal partnership look like and what kind of players need to come together?