Transportation Insight Holding Company today announced its inclusion among North America’s top 10 largest logistics companies, according to Transport Topics, a news leader in freight transportation and logistics. The parent company of Transportation Insight, LLC and Nolan Transportation Group (NTG), Transportation Insight Holding Company ranks No. 8 on the 2021 Top 50 Logistics Companies list. NTG moved up to No. 12 on Transport Topics’ Top Freight Brokerage Firms.

“Our company is laser-focused on strategic growth and reinvesting in our business. This recognition further confirms our position as a leader in this market, and our ability to deliver scalable solutions that create a sustainable competitive advantage for our customers,” said Ken Beyer, chief executive officer of Transportation Insight Holding Company. “As we look toward the future, our goal is to empower shippers and carriers through our hybrid-digital strategy and give our customers the analytics and visibility they need. That will allow us to continue elevating the performance of our customers’ supply chains.”

Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm, purchased the majority stake in Transportation Insight, LLC in 2018. Gryphon acquired the majority stake in Nolan Transportation Group in 2019. As the companies have integrated, a key growth-driver is their unique position to support dynamic spot shipments or complete managed transportation solutions across truckload, less-than-truckload and small parcel networks. Transportation Insight LLC continues to make strategic acquisitions to support long-term growth plans.

Companies on the Top 50 Logistics list are ranked based on gross revenue for the most recent 12-month period. The list offers a revenue based breakdown of the top freight brokerage firms, air and ocean freight forwarders, dry storage and refrigerated warehouse operators and dedicated contract carriage service providers in North America.

To see the complete list of Top 50 Logistics Companies and Top Freight Brokerage Firms, visit https://www.ttnews.com/top50/logistics/2021.

About Transport Topics
Transport Topics is the news leader in freight transportation and has been for the last 80 years. When it comes to major issues, industry events, and new developments, Transport Topics journalists are there first and most often. Our hallmark coverage of the regulatory environment and the business and technology landscapes makes TT unique — a major multimedia channel, personalized for transportation. Read us daily at www.ttnews.com.

About Nolan Transportation Group
Founded in 2005, Nolan Transportation Group (NTG) is a leader in truckload brokerage and third-party logistics services, dedicated to delivering the highest level of service in the transportation industry. NTG offers a wide range of services for customers across North America. NTG specializes in strategic truckload shipping, as well as expedited, partial, refrigerated, drayage, and intermodal. NTG’s carrier base consists of approximately 45,000 independent carriers that facilitate the movement of its customers’ products. NTG is headquartered in Atlanta, GA and has 13 additional offices across the United States. NTG has been ranked a Top Freight Brokerage by Transport Topics for four consecutive years and has been ranked on the Inc. 500 | 5000 lists for six straight years as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. For more information about NTG, visit www.ntgfreight.com or email inquiry@ntgfreight.com.

About Transportation Insight, LLC
Transportation Insight is a multi-modal, lead logistics provider that partners with manufacturers, retailers and distributors to achieve significant cost savings, reduce cycle times and improve customer satisfaction rates through customized supply chain solutions. Transportation Insight offers carrier sourcing, freight bill audit and payment services, state-of-the-art transportation management system (TMS) applications, parcel technology platform (audit, engineering, advanced analytics) and business intelligence. The Enterprise Logistics division of the Transportation Insight Holdings, LLC, (TI Holdco) portfolio, Transportation Insight operates alongside transactional freight brokerage Nolan Transportation Group (NTG) to help client shippers engineer efficient supply chain networks. Combined, the $4.3 billion TI Holdco organization serves 10,000 clients with logistics management services that include domestic transportation (TL, LTL, Parcel), e-commerce solutions, supply chain analytics, international transportation, warehouse sourcing, LEAN consulting and supply chain sourcing of indirect materials including secondary packaging. Headquartered in Hickory, N.C., Transportation Insight has secondary operating centers and client support offices across North America. For more about Transportation Insight, visit www.transportationinsight.com or email info@transportationinsight.com.

About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management teams. The firm has managed over $5.0 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $50 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with enterprise values ranging from approximately $100 million to $600 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.

Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), a San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm, announced today that it has acquired Vessco Holdings (“Vessco” or “the Company”), in partnership with Vessco’s management team, from O2 Investment Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Vessco has been serving Upper Midwest and Northeast industrial and municipal customers for over 35 years. Vessco is a value-added distributor of process, flow control, pumps, and automation equipment and services to water and wastewater treatment utilities and industrial users. The Company offers a comprehensive product portfolio and provides value–added design, engineering support, and aftermarket parts and services.

Vessco Holdings’ management team, led by CEO Brian DeWolf, will continue to manage the business, and senior management will remain significant owners of the Company. Longtime industry executive Jim McGivern will become Executive Chairman of the Company. A seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in the water, wastewater, and utility sectors, Mr. McGivern was previously the COO of American Water, CEO of Elster Group and CEO of Sigma Corporation.

“Vessco operates at the nexus of Gryphon’s experience with infrastructure and utility products and value-added distribution businesses. We are very pleased to partner with Brian, a highly talented and visionary leader, and the other members of the management team. Vessco is poised for rapid growth as it capitalizes on its track record, reputation, and know-how to serve its customers,” said Leigh Abramson, Deal Partner and Head of the Industrial Growth Group at Gryphon.

Mr. DeWolf said, “We are delighted to be working with Gryphon through the next stage of our growth. Not only is Gryphon the right cultural fit, but the firm has a history of showing strong support for managers by providing operational and financial resources for both organic growth and acquisitions. We have been impressed with Gryphon’s solid knowledge of our industry and their insightful assessment of how to create efficient, sustainable, and competitive water treatment systems.”

Wes Lucas, the Operating Partner to Gryphon’s Industrial Growth Group, added, “Water and wastewater treatment is a critical part of modern human life, and the industry will continue to experience attractive growth tailwinds from population growth, increasing regulation, and the need to replace aging infrastructure. We look forward to supporting Vessco management during its next phase of growth by leveraging Gryphon’s in-house Operations Resources Group and Human Capital Group to facilitate further investment in the business and its employees.”

Felix Park, Principal at Gryphon, added, “Vessco has built a culture that combines entrepreneurial spirit and local market expertise with a commitment towards OEM suppliers and customers. Given its leading position within a large and growing addressable market, the Company is well-situated for long-term expansion into additional products and services as well as new geographies. In addition to organic growth, we will be focused on acquisitions as an important component of the go-forward growth strategy.”

Gryphon was advised by legal counsel Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and financial advisor Raymond James. Honigman LLP was legal advisor to O2 Investment Partners, and William Blair & Co. was O2’s financial advisor. Vessco management was represented by attorney Peter W. Klein, P.A., of Boca Raton, FL.

About Vessco Holdings
Vessco (www.vesscoholdings.com) Vessco is one of the largest equipment distributors and systems integrators of water and wastewater treatment technology in the United States. Vessco offers its customers an exceptional breadth of products and services with its line card of valued vendors. Vessco provides its products and services in over 18 states throughout the Central U.S., Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions.

About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors is a leading private equity firm focused on growing and enhancing mid-market companies in partnership with management. The firm has managed over $5 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $100 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with sales ranging from approximately $100 million to $600 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise. For more information, visit www.gryphoninvestors.com.

Transportation Insight Holding Company (“TI Holdco” or “the Company”), a leading provider of non-asset tech-enabled enterprise logistics and freight brokerage solutions in North America, announced today that it has named Ken Beyer as the company’s new CEO, effective immediately. In this newly created role, Mr. Beyer will oversee the operations of the two companies, currently comprising the TI HoldCo platform, Transportation Insight (“TI”) and Nolan Transportation Group (“NTG”). His role will be to drive the Company’s continued growth while ensuring that both TI and NTG help their customers optimize transportation networks, reduce freight costs, ensure on-time delivery, and manage complex supply chains.

Mr. Beyer is a highly experienced executive leader with a 25-year background of driving growth in the logistics and technology space. Before joining TI HoldCo, he served for seven years at Ingram Micro Inc., a $50 billion global leader in technology distribution, cloud solutions, and supply chain services, most recently as Executive Vice President and President of Commerce and Lifecycle Services. In that role, he led a team of over 15,000 employees across 39 countries, providing customers with specialized logistics solutions in e-commerce and omni-channel fulfillment. In addition, he oversaw the merger of two business units and helped the combined entity achieve 30% revenue growth.

Prior to that, Mr. Beyer was the Co-Founder and CEO of CloudBlue Technologies, a leading global provider of electronics Reverse Logistics services and enterprise IT Asset Disposition. That company was later acquired by Ingram Micro. Mr. Beyer began his career in management consulting with Ernst & Young, LLP before launching multiple tech-enabled entrepreneurial ventures.

“We enthusiastically welcome Ken to the TI family,” said Paul Thompson, Chairman of the TI HoldCo board and founder of TI. “He brings with him an entrepreneurial spirit and a demonstrated track record of identifying business opportunities, developing the enterprise solutions to make them work, and successfully driving growth. In particular, he understands how customers want to leverage technology to support growth and scale and how to build e-commerce systems that are friendly to traditional retailers and small brands. He is keenly aware of how tech-enabled solutions can drive competitiveness and growth for customers, and he is an expert at managing the increasingly complicated world of logistics and supply chain management.”

Kevin Nolan, Founder of NTG, continued, “As both TI and NTG continue rapid expansion, we recognized the need to build a comprehensive oversight role at the holding company level. In that regard, Ken will team with Rennie Faulkner, CEO of TI, and Geoff Kelley, President of NTG, and our very strong group of leaders at both TI and NTG. Ken has built and led successful global teams and has a proven ability to grow revenue while containing costs. His extensive experience in logistics and his familiarity with a wide variety of industries will be invaluable as we continue to connect with new and existing customers and pursue innovative growth strategies.”

Mr. Beyer holds a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from Kansas State University and completed the Executive Education program in Mergers and Acquisitions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Mr. Beyer commented, “I am thrilled to join Transportation Insight HoldCo. Supply chains across the country are reconfiguring, and I look forward to the challenge of providing innovative, tech-enabled solutions that drive client satisfaction and competitive advantage at a time when flexibility and adaptation are at a premium. I look forward to working alongside the deeply talented TI and NTG teams to deliver a best-in-class Enterprise Logistics offering.”

TI HoldCo is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management.

About Transportation Insight HoldCo
Transportation Insight HoldCo operates as two sister companies, Enterprise Logistics provider Transportation Insight, LLC, and freight brokerage Nolan Transportation Group. Together, these companies help client shippers engineer efficient supply chain networks. Combined, the $3.2 billion TI HoldCo organization serves 7,000 clients with logistics management services that include domestic transportation (truckload, less-than-truckload, parcel), e-commerce solutions, supply chain analytics, international transportation, warehouse sourcing, LEAN consulting, and supply chain sourcing of indirect materials including secondary packaging.

About Transportation Insight, LLC
Transportation Insight is a multi-modal, lead logistics provider that partners with manufacturers, retailers, and distributors to achieve significant cost savings, reduce cycle times, and improve customer satisfaction rates through customized supply chain solutions. Transportation Insight offers a Co-Managed Logistics® form of 3PL, carrier sourcing, freight bill audit, and payment services, state-of-the-art transportation management system (TMS) applications, parcel technology platform (audit, engineering, advanced analytics), and business intelligence. Headquartered in Hickory, NC, Transportation Insight has secondary operating centers and client support offices across North America. For more about Transportation Insight, visit www.transportationinsight.com or email info@transportationinsight.com.  

About Nolan Transportation Group, LLC
Founded in 2005, Nolan Transportation Group (“NTG”) is a leader in truckload brokerage and third-party logistics services, dedicated to delivering the highest level of service in the transportation industry. NTG offers a wide range of services for customers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. NTG specializes in both TL (“truckload”) and LTL (“less-than-truckload”), as well as expedited, partial, refrigerated, drayage, and intermodal. NTG’s carrier base consists of approximately 30,000 independent carriers that facilitate the movement of its customers’ products. NTG is headquartered in Atlanta, GA and has 11 additional offices across the United States. NTG has been ranked a Top Freight Brokerage by Transport Topics for three consecutive years and has been ranked on the Inc. 500 | 5000 lists for five straight years as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. For more information about NTG, visit www.ntgfreight.com or email inquiry@ntgfreight.com.

About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. The firm has managed over $5.0 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $100 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with enterprise values ranging from approximately $100 million to $500 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.

Potter Electric Signal Company of, LLC of St. Louis, Missouri, USA, announces the hiring of Jeff Klein to the position of President of Fire & Security. Klein is joining Potter after previously working at Chamberlain Group in Chicago as their Vice President/General Manager of Commercial Business. Klein will be taking over for Dave Kosciuk, who will be moving into the role of Senior Vice President of Business Development before retiring at the end of 2020.

Klein received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Prior to his time at Chamberlain, Klein held multiple roles at Honeywell Security and Fire’s North America division, including Vice President of Marketing and Senior Director of Integration.

Gerry Connolly, Chief Executive Officer at Potter said, “We are grateful for Dave Kosciuk’s 12 years of dedication to Potter. He grew our Fire and Security division exponentially and put us in a great position to continue as a leader in the industry. While we will miss Dave, I am very excited to have Jeff as our next President for our Fire and Security division. His extensive experience in both the fire industry and the commercial building technology sector will be a great asset to Potter as we continue to grow.”

About Potter
Potter’s dedication to providing customers with the best life safety products on the market drives them to consistently expect and achieve the best. For over 120 years, Potter’s reputation for quality and service has been the catalyst towards its focus for the design, development, and manufacture of the highest quality and most reliable products available today.