BLP:375 From Finance Guy to Trucking CEO

Watch on YouTube Frankie Wilmot didn't grow up in trucking — he married into it. A former finance guy, Frankie became CEO of Corcoran Transportation Group about four years ago, right as the industry was heading into one of its worst downturns in history. In this conversation, he takes us through the full story: two cousins who started competing trucking companies in Billings, Montana back in the 1960s, a business that split apart across a generation, and how it came back together into one operation running roughly 150 trucks across four specialized fleets — including an Alaska division that runs freight up ice roads to Prudhoe Bay. Frankie gets into what it actually took to consolidate four separate companies (four payrolls, four software systems, four everything) into one organization, why unfiltered growth kills more trucking companies than it saves, and how staying diversified across freight types has kept the business steady even when individual segments slow down. He also opens up about the challenge of leading a business he joined by marriage rather than blood, why 176 people depending on the company keeps him up at night in a good way, and why he believes truck drivers are the most underappreciated workers in the country.  Chapters: 0:00 – Intro: Meet Frankie Wilmot, CEO of Corcoran Transportation Group 0:51 – The History of the Corcoran Family Business 2:29 – Inside the Fleet: Four Divisions, 150 Trucks  4:06 – Billings, Montana & Where They Run 7:54 – The Business Behind the Freight: Grain, Doubles & More 9:28 – From Finance to Trucking: What Changed 11:46 – Trucking as the Backbone of Capitalism 13:14 – Family, Employees & Consolidating Four Companies Into One 15:41 <span class= "ytAttributedStringLinkInherit