A Lifelong Passion for Trucking

By Holly Brooks

You might say FTA Board Chair Scott Perry was destined to work in the transportation industry.

Scott, who serves as President of Moving & Logistics at Suddath, comes from a family of transportation professionals. His paternal great-grandfather had his own trucking company as an extension of his chicken farming business – a small operation. His maternal grandfather was a truck driver for Bowman Transportation most of his career until he could no longer drive due to vision loss.

That’s when he left the road and became a dock supervisor in their local terminal. “His terminal was actually about a block away from my elementary school, and I have fond memories of going to Bowman as a young child and ‘working’ on the dock and in the truck shop,” Scott recalls. He also has many uncles who have been in and out of the industry for the past 50 years.

He credits these familial ties with igniting his passion for transportation and logistics. “When I see our drivers, warehouse workers and support staff, I can relate that directly back to grandparents, aunts and uncles who played important roles in my formative years.”

Scott's grandfather, who had a "significant impact" on his life, was a professional truck driver for Bowman Transportation.

Scott grew up in Gadsden, a rural town in Northeast Alabama – “one of those towns with just two traffic lights” – and began his career in his teen years as a lumper at the Goodyear Tire distribution center, working with one of his uncles who drove a truck full-time.

He started networking with the local trucking companies while helping their drivers unload tires at all of the local warehouses, doing this until starting college at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala. During his junior year, Ryder offered Scott a job as a warehouse employee at the same Goodyear Tire distribution center where he worked in his teen years, giving him an opportunity to participate in their management development program.

From there, he became an operations leader, eventually progressing into a corporate leadership role. Now, 35 years later, he leads the moving and logistics organization at Suddath, one of the top residential, commercial, and military moving and logistics companies in the U.S.

His many years of experience have not only given him a deep understanding of the supply chain, but also deep compassion for the customers he serves. “At Suddath, our mission is ‘to serve our customers, communities, and each other with the highest level of care, making lives easier by delivering in moments that matter.’ Whether we are serving our customers at some of the most intense times in their lives, or in their daily business, what we do to support them in those moments really does matter.”

Scott’s wife, Kristi, has been by his side since the beginning of his career. “My professional achievements would have never been possible without the never-ending support of my wife. We’re one of those couples who can proudly say we were high school sweethearts, dating all the way through college and then starting our married life and professional careers together soon after graduating from college.” Scott and Kristi have one son, who is currently a sophomore in college.

Scott has been involved in FTA leadership for about five years, first joining the Board of Directors in 2015. I spoke with him recently about Suddath, his thoughts on the trucking industry’s future, and his involvement in FTA.

How has the boom in the residential real-estate market impacted Suddath as a moving and logistics company?

Our household goods moving team has seen a significant increase in demand for services over the past 18 months as a result of this boom. I think everyone working in the transportation industry has seen the ripple effect booms can create. We’re seeing significant disparities between supply and demand, which then inevitably strains the supply chain. Our teams have been true rockstars when it comes to finding ways to best serve our customers while trying to navigate through these challenging times. As a consumer, making a residential move can already be stressful when everything goes perfectly, so when the supply chain is strained it only reinforces why you should be partnering with organizations who know what they are doing and who care about the outcome – just as our teams have been doing for 102 years!

What’s ahead for Suddath’s Moving & Logistics business?

We operate in so many different business verticals that it is easy to get lost in the excitement of no two days being the same – but we are highly focused on business simplification through a number of modernization and innovation initiatives to help us with achieving our goals around safety, quality, and growth. We made a strategic acquisition earlier this year with Daryl Flood, providing us an entry point and expanding our capabilities into the home delivery logistics segment. We are highly focused on growing that business, on top of the planned growth for workplace services, contract warehousing, fulfillment services, transportation brokerage, project management, international freight forwarding, and household goods transportation. Talent recruiting, talent development, and change management are key elements of our ongoing strategy to better serve our customers and provide opportunity to our employees.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from working in the trucking industry?

Everyone in our industry plays an important role and there is so much honor in what we do, so we shouldn’t stand by and allow bad behavior from others – whether within or outside the industry – tarnish our reputation or image.

What is something exciting to watch in the trucking industry right now? Is there an emerging technology or opportunity that you are keeping an eye on?

Fleet electrification and autonomy are very high on the radar screen for me. Having lived in that world for a while, I know there is a lot of heavy lifting to be done before we see those technologies on a broad basis, but the momentum is good, and both will have significant impacts on how our companies and our supply chains operate.

You have a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability from Harvard. How have you been able to apply your knowledge of sustainability to the trucking industry?

While that degree program gave me great insights into the environmental impacts that we all have based upon our personal and professional choices, it also gave me some great perspective on how sustainability is a balance of the environmental, social, and financial elements of every business. I started that degree path when I was at Ryder in an innovation role while the industry was just getting exposed to advanced fuel vehicles, autonomy, advanced materials, and electrification. I was living on the front line of many of these technologies and needed to have a better foundation for understanding the decisions that were being made by manufacturers, fleets, and regulatory agencies. Since then, I have been able to use those skills through a much more balanced approach of trying to view business through all three perspectives, understanding that if you don’t take all three into account, you likely won’t like the long-term result. We all must be financially viable as businesses, we all need to be invested in our communities and our people (or we’ll lose our social license to operate), and we all must take our impact on the environment seriously. Success here won’t come from the stroke of a pen, but rather through daily discipline and focus on being good stewards of our communities.

How has FTA involvement shaped you as a trucking industry leader?

Getting to interact with peers through different events and environments created by the FTA has not only allowed for the expansion of my personal network but has also allowed me to develop relationships that support our organization professionally. Being able to share new thoughts and ideas around opportunities for the industry, as well as using the FTA platform as a unifying voice when looking to influence policymakers, helps to make me a more effective leader for my organization.

Can you discuss the value of an FTA membership?

Beyond the benefits I just referenced from a personal perspective, I am certain that every transportation company operating within Florida, whether they are based here or not, is benefitting from the FTA’s efforts. Your membership allows you to have a front-row seat to those efforts and also allows your organization to tap into all of the support services that have been developed by the FTA staff. Whether you are a small start- up, or a large, well-established publicly traded company — if you participate in this industry, you will benefit greatly from being a member of FTA.

Outside of the trucking industry, what are you most passionate about?

Most of my time and resources are devoted to my family and career, but I also value the opportunity I have had to serve as Chairman of the Board for Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). I have been associated with TAT for eight years, and the work that Kendis Paris and the team are doing is simply amazing. As a nationwide provider of transportation services, I felt it was critical to align our organization with TAT’s efforts to end human trafficking. Our goal at Suddath is for all drivers, dispatchers and warehouse dock workers to be 100% TAT-certified, ensuring they have the knowledge and awareness to make a difference. If your organization hasn’t been TAT trained, I strongly encourage you to reach out today!