Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025:
Saia announces new leadership appointments
Saia LTL Freight (CCJ Top 250, No. 19) this week announced key leadership appointments that reinforce the company’s commitment to enhancing the customer experience, expanding capabilities, and driving long-term growth.
Saia announced that Lori Blaney is its new vice president of customer experience (CX). A seasoned transportation industry leader with more than 30 years of experience, Blaney has held executive-level roles overseeing sales organizations, customer solutions teams, and sales operations at several major LTL carriers and logistics providers. In this new position, she will lead Saia’s 360-degree customer experience strategy, ensuring excellence across operations, claims administration, accounts receivable, marketing, billing, customer relationship management technology, and sales enablement.
Saia also announced the promotion of Angelica Naolu to director of CX, specialized services. Since joining the company in 2011, Naolu has been instrumental in advancing the customer service department, most recently serving as senior manager, overseeing Saia’s offshore, international, and onboarding teams. In her expanded role, she will continue leading these teams while enhancing customized services and customer escalation strategies within Saia’s CX framework.
Additionally, Thomas Elmore has been promoted to vice president of business development. Since joining Saia in 2008, Elmore has demonstrated leadership in sales and management roles, most recently serving as director of business development, where he spearheaded efforts to attract and retain corporate customers. In this role, he will drive Saia’s go-to-market strategy, leveraging his expertise in executing strategic initiatives, building high-performing sales teams, and securing significant corporate partnerships.
TCA opens scholarship application period
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has opened its TCA Scholarship fund application period, which will run through March 21.
The program will again accept applicants from full-time students attending accredited two-year programs at junior colleges, as well as four-year accredited colleges. Scholarship monies will be awarded for 2025-2026 academic year.
For nearly 50 years, the TCA Scholarship Fund has been helping students with connections to the truckload industry. The Fund awards up to $6,250 per year, per full-time four-year college student, and then up to $2,000 per full-time two-year college student. In the current 2024-2025 academic year, the TCA Scholarship Fund’s Board of Trustees awarded 60 students scholarships totaling overing $168,000.
Much of the program’s support comes from within the truckload TCA family – companies and individuals who are committed to our truckload community’s future. Any student in good standing (minimum grade point average of 3.0) who will be attending an accredited, four-year or two-year college or university as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, and who is either the child, grandchild, or spouse of an employee or is an employee of a TCA member company, or is the child, grandchild, or spouse of an independent contractor or an independent contractor affiliated with a TCA member company, is encouraged to apply.
More information about the program, and the application, can be found online here.
