Put your hand up and your nose to the grindstone.
Ryan Stephenson’s road to his current role as Senior Director of Sales for the Allen Lund Company was a winding one that, at first glance, seems a far cry from his start as a Transportation Broker 18 years ago. New positions, new locations, and new technologies have mapped the path and endowed Ryan with a toolkit as complex as the fresh purveyors he and the Allen Lund Company serve.
“I was lucky to end up at the Allen Lund Company. I didn't know much about what freight brokers did, but I started on the carrier side, developing relationships with trucking companies on the road and learning how to cover our customers' loads. I wasn't doing a lot of customer-facing work at first—it was about identifying carriers that run consistent lanes that we managed for our shippers. And I was pretty successful,” Ryan recalls.
Relationship-building, problem-solving, and taking on tasks to learn as you go—a foundation to fresh produce operations if ever I heard one. In one brief recollection, Ryan paints the perfect picture of what it means to build a successful career in our ever-changing industry.
“Every time things have changed, Allen Lund Company has been right ahead of it. I remember using a fax machine to send shipment confirmations to and from our carriers, and could never have imagined all the things truckers and growers can now do on a phone app. There is so much available, they have a hard time keeping track of where everything is on their phone,” he quips.
Having watched Allen Lund Company not only implement but also innovate tools over nearly two decades, Ryan is the first to observe that new approaches always shake up the old ones—how he himself never would have anticipated the amount of technology necessary in his work today—but that a balance always seems to emerge.
“It’s the age-old fear, isn’t it?” Ryan observes. “TMS (Transportation Management System) was the new technology out there when I started. We had been approached by numerous software companies that essentially promised to help develop our in-house TMS system, to improve our day-to-day operations to the point where we wouldn't even need people anymore. The technology would just connect the carriers to the shippers' freight, they said. It's been something I've heard for the majority of my career. Funny enough, technology has enabled the Allen Lund Company to grow, and the entire transportation brokerage industry to grow, so there are more people than ever before.”
In fact, despite having all of the tools and technology at his disposal, Ryan explains to me how he painstakingly works to connect in person for the first days of work for anyone under his purview. If he cannot, then he tries to ensure someone who knows the ropes can. The business is as in-person-fueled today as it has ever been because, as Ryan points out, people are irreplaceable, regardless of how far technology has come.
“I think we embrace tech, but the key is balancing that people element, right? For instance, there's a lot of talk right now about generative AI and how it might be a significant disruptor, potentially even taking jobs. But it's an age-old argument I and anyone else who has been around a while know we have heard before,” Ryan shares with a smile. “There will be use cases for AI, but no one likes getting on the phone and realizing that you're talking to a bot or computer that can't answer a very specific question. When you get into the more nuanced industries like produce, there are so many specifics and complexities as a whole. I learn something new every day, even 18 years in.”
How do you keep rolling with the punches? As Ryan said initially, keep raising your hand and trying new opportunities.
“I think we embrace tech, but the key is balancing that people element, right? For instance, there's a lot of talk right now about generative AI and how it might be a significant disruptor, potentially even taking jobs. But it's an age-old argument I and anyone else who has been around a while know we have heard before.”
Ryan Stephenson, Senior Director of Sales, Allen Lund Company
“Every time there was a new opportunity, even if I wasn’t entirely sure I understood it, I believed in my ability to learn and that I would have the support I needed. So I would volunteer, over and over again. And no matter how far I was from where I started, it seemed we would come full circle back to the importance of relationships, on both the carrier side and shipper side of our business. As far as I’ve come, one thing that has never changed is knowing who you're talking to on the phone, especially when challenges come up. So, as fast as technology has moved, you just can't get away from the importance of the person,” he shares.
Technology, Ryan tells me, enables the Allen Lund Company’s team and the greater industry to make better decisions faster; to handle the rules, while the adaptability and trust of people navigate the exceptions in our everyday lives.
“Where you get in trouble is when you start relying too much on technology alone without that human control. Frankly, it’s what has made the recent rise in security issues and theft possible. There's nothing that replaces the phone call and speaking directly to that driver, from a safety standpoint and from a service standpoint,” Ryan concludes.
Because of this, even as Allen Lund Company prepares for a special milestone in the year to come, the cornerstones of service and humanity have built both internal and external loyalty for the business for nearly half a century.
“Where you get in trouble is when you start relying too much on technology alone without that human control. Frankly, it’s what has made the recent rise in security issues and theft possible. There's nothing that replaces the phone call and speaking directly to that driver, from a safety standpoint and from a service standpoint.”
“While we are consistently ahead in technology, one thing I always point out to any person I'm interviewing is the fact that we've never had to lay off anyone in our history at Allen Lund Company. They have support, and they have resources when they join our team,” Ryan says. “All the Allen Lund Company technology at their fingertips that they can sell and use to differentiate themselves from their competitors is here to support, as well as the people behind it. My team, along with our executive team, are all here to help them succeed and to show them the Lund way.”
In a competitive market of over 20,000 brokers, it is the balance of community and technology that has built careers like Ryan’s. And the opportunity to hear his individual perspective before multiplying it to the many lives spanning the Allen Lund team from today to its inception is truly awe-inspiring.
In reflecting on the hands raised and the stories shared, it becomes clear that the future of the Allen Lund Company isn’t just built on opportunity—it’s built on the enduring spirit of those like Ryan who continue to show up. 
