This win marks the fourth year in a row Echo has won a BIG Innovation AwardCHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Echo Global Logistics, Inc. ("Echo"), a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, has won a 2025 BIG Innovation Award for EchoSync, the company's advanced logistics integration and automation system. Presented by the Business Intelligence Group, these awards honor organizations, ideas, and people that provide innovations to the world, big or small.EchoSync leverages Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) or Application Programming Interface (API) to manage communication between the transportation systems utilized by shippers, carriers, and other logistics providers. EDI and API allow for seamless, system-to-system data transfer between Echo and its clients and carriers for a smoother transportation experience. For instance, users can exchange business documents such as invoices or purchase orders, removing the need for manual data entry."We're excited to be named to this award, particularly for a facet of our core technology," said Doug Waggoner, Chief Executive Officer at Echo

CEO Doug Waggoner and President and COO Dave Menzel both were recognized for their leadershipCHICAGO, Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Echo Global Logistics, Inc. ("Echo"), a leading provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, is proud to announce that its Chief Executive Officer, Doug Waggoner, and its President and Chief Operating Officer, Dave Menzel, have both been named winners of 12th Annual Globee Awards for Leadership. Waggoner won in the Chief Executive Officer of the Year category and Menzel won in the Lifetime Achievement Award category

As a well-established 3PL in the transportation management and brokerage space, Chicago-based Echo Global Logistics has proved that focusing on customer relationships and strategy is the best way to navigate a freight market downturn.Zach Jecklin, chief information officer at Echo, has been with the company 17 years and has experienced every part of the market cycle.“We’re ready for a tailwind,” Jecklin said. “It’s been a long bottom part of the market, for longer than we’ve seen in the history of tracking these cycles.”According to Jecklin, the lowest dip in the market is a natural consequence of the highest peak.“It makes sense that it took awhile for some of that additional capacity to come out of the marketplace and for things to renormalize, with rates finally showing signs of increasing,” Jecklin said.When the market flips, the Echo team is poised to take advantage of ideal conditions due to their strategy during the tougher times.“At Echo, we’re ready to be flexible in any market, and we plan for this,” Jecklin said. “We know how to operate at any point of these cycles, so we can continue to strategically take market share and grow profitability during the low points.”“Previously, we’ve seen one or two bid cycles in a downturn, and now we’re seeing three or four bid cycles,” Jecklin added.Echo believes the best way to navigate these cycles is through industry relationships.“How you manage relationships and service to your largest shippers and carriers while managing costs determines how strong you come out of the downturns,” Jecklin said. “This industry is operating on a relatively thin gross margin, so this takes careful planning.”For most 3PLs, this cycle has been exceptionally challenging in its length and depth.“What’s differentiated Echo through this cycle is not just our best-in-class technology, it’s the fact that we have some of the best people in the industry with history and experience to maintain excellence through even the most challenging and unique circumstances,” Jecklin said.The shifts occurring in the freight market coincide with the introduction of new technologies, most notably the integration of AI into data management and analytics.“It’s not all hype,” Jecklin said. “There is going to be a lot of value from AI, and there already has been, going back as far as the last 30 years.”Generative AI and consumer-facing applications like OpenAI are relatively new and have raised the conversation in the public sphere, but Jecklin said AI is something Echo has been using and integrating for a long time.“The most interesting part of the hype now is that people are talking about the future of AI generically across all industries, from individual contributors to executive boards,” Jecklin said. “People tend to lump the topic together as ‘AI,’ but we have to be clear about use cases and applications because it can be very contextual.”“At Echo, what we’re focused on is not rocket science,” Jecklin said