Leadership

Jason Burns is a passionate business leader in the Greater New Orleans community and the final mile transportation industry. He is a proud 2006 graduate of Vanderbilt University where he was a SEC Academic Honor Roll student-athlete in football and selected as the recipient of the Head Coach’s Dedication Award.

Jason later returned to his hometown to assume a leadership role in his family’s business enterprises, including Burns Management Group (BMG), Global Parking Systems (GPS) and QCS Logistics (formerly Quick Courier Services, Inc). As a second-generation owner and President of QCS, Mr. Burns led the company’s resurgence by developing new service offerings, implementing a new technology platform, and expanding operations into new markets. These initiatives resulted in record growth and QCS was selected to the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest growing companies for four consecutive years. QCS was also recognized as a Top 100 Icon of Industry by ICIC (Initiative for a Competitive Inner City) in 2014. In 2020, QCS was acquired by Dropoff Inc, a national same day delivery company headquartered in Austin, TX with operations in over 25 states. In this new role, he serves as Dropoff’s Director of Corporate Development.  

Additionally, Jason has served as a board member of the Customized Logistics and Delivery Association (CLDA) since 2011 and an executive board member since 2016. During his tenure has chaired the following committees: Technology, Final Mile Forum, ELS, Membership and the newly created Diversity & Inclusion.

Joel Pinsky, CPA, is a graduate of the University of Delaware. After passing the CPA exam in his first sitting, Joel joined the audit team of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co (now KPMG) in Baltimore. Three years later Joel moved to Touche, Ross & Co (now Deloitte & Touche) to become a tax consultant. Several years later Joel pursued a dream of his and opened Ledo Pizza and Pasta. The restaurant carved out a niche in catering hot lunches and dinners. This was Joel’s first introduction to the delivery business.

In 2008 Joel was asked by his childhood friend to join Global Messenger and Logistics headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Here Joel has helped the company transition from a local messenger business into the courier and logistics company it is today.

Joel has a lovely wife, Kimberly, and is the proud father of three great children, Andrew, Eric and Julia. Joel enjoys visiting his mother and in laws in Florida. Other interest include travelling, almost all sports, playing with his goldendoodles, Bentley and Beau, and saving people money on their taxes.

Steve has been in the expedited delivery business for the majority of his professional career. He started an on-demand legal courier service in Miami, Florida at the age of 23 after completing his studies at Florida State University. Esquire Express, started in 1990, quickly became one of the largest legal couriers in South Florida. In 1992 Steve successfully launched Esquire Express Service of Process division which, along with his courier service, is still thriving today.

In 2000, Steve began Esquire Logistics, Inc. to capture a piece of the market that a small package courier company could not service well - large straight truck deliveries. Esquire Logistics has grown into a regional power house operating out of a 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Miami, Florida. From one dock they service the entire Southern Peninsula of Florida providing white glove, brown glove, air freight and general freight deliveries.

Steve is the treasurer of the Florida Messenger Association brings his 21+ years of experience in the delivery industry to the CLDA continue to move our association and industry forward.

Steve has been married to Anita Howard for 15 years and has three children, Austin, Sydney and Stephanie. He is an Eagle Scout and a Boy Scout leader and heads the Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts honor society, for one of the largest troops in Florida.

Lorena has been living logistics from a young age. She started in the business at age 17 and worked her way up to Vice President of Operations in a courier company. At age 24 she decided she was ready to strike out on her own. Because no bank would risk lending to a 24-year-old upstart, Lorena borrowed $25,000 from a friend of a friend and started her own company, Pearl Transportation & Logistics in Los Angeles. She’s built Pearl on innovation, quality and teamwork. Pearl Trans prides itself in being a full-service transportation provider offering customized same-day transportation solutions. Today, that company delivers everything everywhere from human tissue to aircraft parts in Southern California, throughout the US and even internationally.

Lorena is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of the CLDA, who she credits for bringing some of her most influential mentors into her life and forging business relationships that have helped grow her business. She is also a former board member of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Lorena is a graduate of the Executive Management Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Lorena has spent a significant amount of personal time traveling to Guatemala volunteering in a mountainous village offering reading and writing classes, as well as entrepreneurship training in an effort to empower young women in the region and to stop the cycle of domestic abuse. 

Tim is the Chief Operating Officer at Xcel Delivery Services Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona. He has been an active member of the CLDA since he joined the association in 2000. He is currently chair of the Marketing/Public Relations Committee. Cocchia previously served on the MCAA Board from 2000-2004. In addition, Cocchia previously served on the association’s Membership Services and Conference Committees.  Xcel Delivery Services provides custom on-demand deliveries, logistics, warehousing, and distribution services throughout Arizona. They work in the banking and medical fields, as well as in other industries as couriers and drivers.

Andrew Brady is the Co-Owner and COO at King Courier, a full-service courier company serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1992, he has run operations and been involved in sales for the company.

Starting out as a bike messenger in Boston, MA, Mr. Brady moved to San Francisco in 1990 and continued working in the field, first as a bike messenger at Silver Bullet and then at Executive Courier Network (ECN). At ECN, Mr. Brady progressed rapidly through a variety of positions in dispatch and operations before ECN laid off the entire bicycle messenger division. He and 5 other messengers used this opportunity to start their own company King Courier. King Courier was featured on the BBC America television show "Richard Hammond's Crash Course".

From July 2004 to June 2012, Mr. Brady also owned and operated Bay Area Dispatch and Solutions Systems, a transportation brokerage firm in the Bay Area focused on enabling independent couriers to simultaneously contract with multiple local courier firms without jeopardizing quality of service.

Mr. Brady has previously served as President of the California Delivery Association (CDA), the statewide association of expedited delivery companies in California, from February 2006 to July 2011, and again from 2019 to 2022. Mr. Brady has been a proud CLDA member since 2000 and has been actively involved in serving the association, most recently in the Final Mile Forum Committee.

Mark has experience in the following industries: courier and trucking, financial services, insurance and technology. He holds a BA in Computer Science along with an MBA, both from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Mark has held VP positions at multiple Fortune 300 companies and currently serves as the President of Priority Courier Experts – VANEX in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Priority started in 1997 and has grown into a 500+ vehicle fleet consisting of commercial vehicles including tractor trailers, straight trucks and specialty vehicles, plus a full range of parcel vehicles. Priority’s operations are concentrated in MN and the surrounding states and is the dominant same-day carrier in the region.

Mark has been highly involved and dedicated at both the state and federal levels to preserving the Independent Contractor model. He single-handedly moved the courier industry in MN to be included in a critical statutory definition of an Independent Contractor when trucking and labor forces were trying to exclude its inclusion. Mark continues to work closely with our federal sponsor of IC legislation.

Thomas began his career in logistics in 1994 serving as a service facilitator at U.S. Delivery (later purchased by Corporate Express Delivery Systems) in Houston, TX. Shortly thereafter, he became the Director of Logistics for a small company known as Dedicated Services, Inc (DSI). After DSI was purchased by Noble International from Detroit, MI, Thomas stayed on as Director of Logistics for what became Noble Logistic Services where he developed and managed regional delivery systems all over the country, including the development of a distribution network for Toyota & Ford.

In July of 2003, Thomas ventured into a partnership with Advantage Delivery & Logistics (ADL) headquartered in Tampa, FL where he currently serves as the Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. In addition to having developed the current corporate infrastructure, Thomas aided the firm in nearly tripling its business while expanding its coverage into six new states. Placing a strong emphasis on the importance of creating strategic partnerships with customers and other carriers around the country, Thomas has spent the last few years helping to develop vendor relations that ensure strong participation and a solid membership for the Florida Messenger Association. He currently serves as President for the Florida Association and is also the Meeting Committee Chair. Thomas served in the Army prior to beginning his career in Logistics. He has been married for 13 years and has four children. In his spare time, Thomas coaches both Little League Baseball and Fast Pitch Softball and currently serves on the Board of Directors for a Little League. 

Ruth Ospino started Tempo in 2008, as a franchise of Dynamex, nka Transforce. With a background in real estate and finance, she was excited to start a new business and a new challenge in an expanding and ever- changing industry. Teaming up with Dynamex allowed her to learn from experienced professionals and gave her the right tools to succeed.

In 2011, Tempo exited the Dynamex franchise and has since grown into multiple markets. Good, honest, and hard work ethics helped to build a team of hard-working individuals who are customer focused. With branches in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and Olathe, KS, and over 35 independent contractors Tempo provides customized solutions for all delivery needs. With over 15,000 sq ft of warehouse space, Tempo boasts a range of services offered including 2-man white glove service for home or medical, warehousing, scheduled routes, on-demand work, cross-dock, and more.

As satisfying as growing her business has been, Ruth's greatest happiness has been growing her family. Her three children, Luca, Samuel, and Lily are where she gets her strength, drive, and motivation to continue to grow and do her best in all aspects of her career and personal life.

Ralph has more than 39 years of logistics and transportation experience on the ground, in the air and on the ocean. For many years he has worked directly with a large portion of CLDA members moving expedited freight and packages of all kinds for a varied industry client base. Some of you will know him from Choice, AAA Courier, PDQ Courier and ATL Courier, NY, from the early years of his career. Since then Ralph’s career expanded to domestic airfreight, international airfreight, NVOCC ocean shipping, pharmaceutical distribution and expedited air courier services.

In 1997 Ralph became President of On The Go Cargo, Inc., and created a complete logistics service. On The Go Cargo (OTG) has been an active participant in associations like the TIA (Transportation Intermediaries Assoc.), XLA, ECA, NTLA and the New Jersey chapter of the BBB. Ralph spent four years on the XLA Board of Directors before becoming Vice President in 2016. 

Forming solid relationships with agents, freight forwarders and expedited package express companies has made Ralph an asset to his clients and our industry for many years. Becoming a benefit to each other in support of our industry is a very important idea to Ralph, and he strives to remain supportive to the industry and its leaders. 

Kelly has been in the delivery business since 1994, and in her current role, as CEO for Hackbarth Delivery Service, is responsible for strategy, leadership, growth and management of the company. She has held a variety of leadership positions, including most recently VP of Sales & COO. In her time with Hackbarth she helped orchestrate the evolution of the firm from an employee-based bank courier to that of a last mile, routed distribution and dedicated line haul carrier, growing the business from four locations to 25. An active member of her profession, Picard has been involved in the CLDA, ECA, HDMA, the Southeastern Warehouse Association, Mobile United, Leadership Mobile, Mobile Chamber of Commerce and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

Picard received her MBA from the Ohio State University with a concentration in leadership and her BA in International Politics and Spanish from Louisiana State University (LSU). In addition to industry organizations, Picard is heavily involved in local community activities, participating in St. Ignatius Church, Junior League of Mobile, L’Arche, America’s Distinguished Young Women, and St. Mary’s Home, where she has served on boards and advisory committees for many years. She and her husband Larry Picard have five children and live in Mobile, AL.

Mr. G. Eddie Pillow holds an MBA from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree in Marketing ‎from Hampton University. Mr. Pillow spent more than 15 years in sales and marketing roles with Sanofi ‎Aventis, Eli Lilly & Company and GE Capital on the West Coast prior to accepting the position of President ‎for Pillow Logistics. Mr. Pillow has served as a member of Rotary International, the Indianapolis Chamber, ‎Board member of WFYI, Board member of Child Advocates, a “Big” with Big Brothers of Central Indiana ‎and Committee member on the Mid States Minority, Minority Input Council.‎

In October 2019, Mr. Pillow was named President of Pillow Express Logistics. Under his leadership, Pillow Express has grown from 30 couriers and 15 employees to over 150 couriers and 50 employees in two States. Prior to his promotion as President, Mr. Pillow oversaw Sales and Strategic Planning for Pillow Express. Pillow Express has had a long history with the CLDA with its founder Mr. George Pillow Jr. being an active board member of the then MCAA in the mid-1990s. 

Brian Surber is a leader in the last mile space having been employed and actively involved with the Customized Logistics and Delivery Association (CLDA), previously the MCAA, ‎for ~18 years. Ten of those years have been proudly representing Priority Dispatch, Inc. – one of the ‎founding companies of the association. During this time, Brian has contributed to the CLDA as a Committee ‎Member, Panelist, Presenter and Moderator. Not to mention being published numerous times in ‎miscellaneous trade publications supporting the last mile space. It is with humility and unwavering ‎commitment he seeks to give back further to the organization that has given him so much by serving as a CLDA ‎Board Member.

Ryan is the CEO and 2nd generation owner of Now Courier, based in Indiana. He grew up working in the family business, took time to get his degree from Miami University, and eventually came back to work in the family business for the last 19 years. Ryan is passionate about the courier industry and all the great things it does. His people are his passion and he takes great pride in the team they have built at Now Courier.

Charles grew up in the transportation industry. His career started while still in high school when he worked summers for his father’s delivery service. In 1981 he joined the company full time. Over the years he has had the opportunity to work in every area of the business from warehouse operations and dispatch to sales and administration. In 2008, along with his brother Paul, Charles formed Blaze Logistics, LLC and purchased the old company from his family.

Today, Blaze Express Courier Service serves Southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast for several industries, including the medical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as several third-party logistics companies. Blaze Express Courier (with the former company) was a charter member of the CLDA. Charles has supported the CLDA with its efforts of maintaining the integrity of the Independent Contractor business model. In addition to visiting with his state Senator to help defeat harmful legislation affecting worker classification, he is also a regular at the CLDA Lobby Day events to help support this cause.