Scott Jandacek began his career in freight in 2002 when he was fresh out of college at Iowa State University where he received his bachelor’s degree in business administration as a finance major. He joined less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, Roadway Express, and started off working nights and weekends as a dock supervisor at their Chicago Heights, Illinois terminal.
Aside from his role as a dock supervisor, he also held several other positions through the integration of Yellow and Roadway into YRC during his eight years with the company. They included time as a dispatcher, account executive, special service manager, and corporate account executive.
“I am thankful for my time at Roadway/YRC but I was seeking a change,” said Jandacek. “In 2010, an opportunity came along to join Saia as an account executive so I seized that chance. Two years later, I became aware of an opening for a terminal manager position at Saia’s Minneapolis, Minnesota facility.”
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Jandacek applied for the job and was ultimately hired as the new terminal manager. Though he was excited about his new role, he said he didn’t realize what cold was until spending a winter helping shut down the facility’s dock every morning when there were 50 days where the actual air temperature was below zero! After his time in Minneapolis, Jandacek moved back to Chicago where his interest and involvement with third party logistics (3PL) companies Saia conducted business with evolved as he took on the role of national account executive. After three years in this position, he relocated to Johns Creek, Georgia and was tasked with creating a team, forming Saia’s 3PL vertical.
“As director of 3PL sales, it was my responsibility to set the direction for the team, which aligned with our company objectives and helped support the team in their efforts to achieve those goals,” he explained. “We were able to completely transform the operating profile of the 3PLs that Saia chose to do business with and they are now positively contributing to both revenue and operating income growth.”
In his new role as LinkEx’s vice president of logistics, Jandacek said his goal is to utilize the skills and knowledge he gleaned from past experiences in both sales and operations to help continue to build upon the solid foundation and successes LinkEx has achieved in recent years.
“I am excited about the prospects of what an organization with a passion to delight the customer can achieve!” he stated.