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How Whitney is Giving Back and Making an Impact

It was a memorable year of uplifting our community with our Whitney Gives Back program. Whitney Gives Back is our way of making an impact by volunteering in and around the Tampa Bay community.
For 2022, our company-wide goal was 2,500 hours and our team members went above and beyond with the final hours count of 2,612 hours spent helping our community. Here are some highlights of the impact in 2022.

Our team volunteered at many Tampa Bay organizations including:

Meals on Wheels
Feeding Tampa Bay
Metropolitan Ministries
Habitat for Humanity
and our beloved Tampa Pig Jig benefitting NephCure Kidney International

Here at Whitney, we love some friendly competition, so we tallied our top volunteers from 2022.

Kyle Gumina – 111 hours
Yara Santana – 110 hours
Tom MacDonald – 90 hours
Jason Hilley – Best Group Effort – 557 hours

A new year means new goals and we decided to go even bigger this year. Our 2023 goal is to volunteer 3,500 hours! To keep up with our volunteering efforts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Chris Whitney Recognized with Top Honor for Industry & Community Leadership

Around the Tampa Bay region, over 500 of Tampa Bay’s top professionals were nominated to be one of Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 nominees for 2022. With Chris’s impact, not only on this industry but within the Tampa Bay community, there is no doubt why he was selected as a recipient of this prestigious award.

Leading by Example & Transforming an Industry

Under Chris’s leadership, Whitney Logistics, which started as a four-person Tampa-based company, has now doubled our team to over 50 employees and continues to grow. His ability to lead and rally top talent around a similar mission has been critical to our year-over-year success.

Chris’ blend of entrepreneurial spirit and solutions-based mentality also contributes to the elevation of our entire industry. He is introducing technological and systems advancements that are finally taking bulk hauling off its legacy paper-driven process and into an era of more efficiency.

Philanthropic Leadership in Tampa Bay, and Beyond

In addition to Chris’s business success, he has been an incredible philanthropic leader for the Tampa Bay region. Whitney helped organize, fundraise for, and co-lead Tampa’s Pig Jig after his friend was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease. This event has grown from a backyard BBQ to a staple community event, attracting 12,000 people and raising over $5M for NephCure.

Chris instills this community stewardship in his team and encourages them to use work hours to give back. Last year, the Whitney Logistics team logged more than 1,000 hours to nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity, Feeding Tampa Bay, Meals on Wheels of Tampa Bay, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Metropolitan Ministries, and more. Additionally, Whitney Logistics is on track to exceed its 2022 goal of 2,500 hours served.

We are honored to share this news with all our partners and our community. Join us in congratulating Chris Whitney on this top honor!

Our First Take Your Kids to Work Day!

No one loves a truck like a kid - especially like a Whitney kid!

In late April, Whitney Logistics opened its doors to 30 kids of our employees, ages one to eleven for its first annual “Take Your Kids to Work Day.”

“We are energized by the work we do and those we do it with,” said Founder and CEO, Chris Whitney. “Our goal for Take Our Kids to Work Day, was to provide a truly memorable experience for our families while giving them the opportunity to learn more about their parent’s unique role and team, how they contribute each day and who we are, what we do and how we do it here at Whitney as we all work as one team to accomplish our mission of changing the industry and positively impacting our communities. We wanted our kids to feel connected to the company while having fun and “living” in their parent’s shoes for a day.”

As the children showed up with their parents, the excitement and energy was felt throughout the entire office. The first order of business was morning donuts with Chris, along with his wife Jamie and their two children, Hazel and Sam. They took some time to welcome the kids, talk about the company and pass out some cool Whitney hats!

The most anticipated and talked about part of the day was a surprise visit from “Big Orange,” a beautiful Whitney-orange dump truck owned by our very own, Luis Cruz. The kids lined up and took turns sitting in the truck, honking the horn, and learning about safety around the truck.

The kids were then sent on a scavenger hunt where they were able to learn about the various departments that keep Whitney running. From the Accounting team explaining what they do in such a great and simple way, “we tell a story with numbers” to our Operations Manager, Will giving the entertaining visual of a loaded dump truck being the equivalent of 7 elephants, there was lots of fun and learning to be had!

After the kids hauled in all of their treats and goodies, we celebrated with a pizza party, a dance party with DJ Dump Trucks and ended the day with a Kona Shaved Ice Truck.

From beginning to end it was a truly special event. Watching parents, co-workers and their kids all interact together made it a truly special event and really showcased the collaborative, fun and family-first culture we have at Whitney.

#WithWhitney Technology Partner Spotlight: Dauber Applications

Two Whitney Logistics employees discuss various solutions at a job site.

Whitney aims to raise the overall level of service within the trucking industry. One of the ways we strive to do that is through the use of innovative technology. Our integrated cloud-based software features easy-to-use technology that not only optimizes our trucking operations, but relieves many headaches for customers and drivers by giving them never-before-seen visibility into each load.

Prior to finding this solution, our CEO, Chris Whitney was frustrated by the lack of technology in the dry bulk industry. In the past, much of the day-to-day operations relied heavily on manual and paper processes that were inefficient, allowed for errors and slowed everyone down. Understanding these frustrations firsthand, Chris did an exhaustive search and looked at several different technology platforms to solve some of these issues before finally landing on Dauber.

Dauber has established themselves as a prominent technological presence in the trucking industry. They continue to raise the bar when it comes to solving complex issues in the industry using technology solutions. The technology aligned well with Whitney’s vision to provide a world-class experience for customers, drivers and team members. We started our partnership with Dauber and haven’t looked back!

We recently sat down with Dauber’s CEO, Brian Jones, to talk about the partnership between Dauber and Whitney and our goal to continue leading the technological frontier in the bulk transportation industry together

What Is One Of The Biggest Pain Points In The Trucking Industry?

I’m a big believer in reaching full potential, and I think this industry, for too long, has operated under its full potential. Where we lose our most profit is an inefficient use of our current crews and equipment.

The trucking industry has basically done business the same way it has for the last 50 years, which is phone calls and maybe a little bit of text messages. It’s time-consuming, it’s frustrating, and it’s open for all sorts of errors.

That time is money.

Why Did You Create Dauber?

I created Dauber because I was a contractor for 20 years, and I realized that technology could actually be the solution to that, to help the industry reach its full potential and make customers happy. Dauber App provides tools and services for trucking companies, contractors, and material suppliers to go paperless, share information in real-time, automate their dispatch, and ultimately give more loads per day for the trucks.

What Are Some Of The Benefits Of Using Dauber?

Because we know every step of the way, for every move, we can actually look across a truck’s day and plan it out in a way that they fit more loads into their allotted time. More loads in a day means more money for the drivers and the trucking companies.

How Can Dauber And Whitney Continue To Work Together?

Whitney is a dream partner. They have committed to leading this industry into the next generation. They’ve been instrumental to our success and in turn, I think we’ve been helpful to their success as well.

There is a huge opportunity for people who want to work differently, to work better, to win in a way that they couldn’t win before because they didn’t have enough capital or they didn’t have whatever equipment it was. That’s all changed. Now, you can win with this technology. So, my goal, my dream for Dauber is that this entire industry becomes more professional and that this becomes a good, respected business.

Whitney Transport

With Whitney Transport, you will never have to wonder where your truckload is again. Real-time route tracking and accurate estimated times for delivery creates a high level of accountability and transparency. Whitney Transport is an efficient solution for the trucking industry problems you face every day. Contact us today to become a part of the change in the trucking industry.

Tampa Bay Times; “Tampa Bay businesses innovate to stay alive in the face of coronavirus”

A Mack dump truck unloads materials at a Whitney Logistics construction job site.

“We had to come up with something better,” one owner said.

By Graham Brink
Published Apr. 9

Chris Whitney knew he had to do something to keep his drivers and customers safe from coronavirus.

He runs Whitney Transport, a Tampa-based hauling company. His customers needed the asphalt, gravel and other bulk materials used to build everything from roads to skyscrapers. And his drivers still wanted to work.

But delivering the goods required getting signatures, which meant drivers and customers coming into close contact, passing paperwork or an electronic device back and forth. The company was making about 7,000 deliveries a week, despite the economic slowdown. That’s a lot of human contact, when health officials were pleading for social distancing.

Whitney worked with his technology vendor to come up with a completely touchless delivery system. Within two weeks, he had it in place. Now, customers can use a smart device to see the dump trucks rolling to their sites. When the driver dumps the load, the customer gets a notice and signs off electronically. The driver and customer don’t even have to meet.

“We couldn’t keep doing it the old way,” he said. “We had to come up with something better.”

Driving Whitney’s Company Culture

Whitney Logistics team huddling at a job site.

Communication. Integrity. Responsibility. Contribution. Learning. Energy.

To you, these may be buzzwords. But to members of the Whitney family, these are values that drive us each and every day. Our mission is to raise the standard of service across the bulk transportation industry for our customers, but this wouldn’t be possible without our company’s value C.I.R.C.L.E. and our team’s commitment to living them out.

For many team members, communication and contribution are two of the most practiced values at Whitney Transport.

“We’re like family. Everybody fits in, everybody gets along…there’s no problems or gossip. I love the fact that everybody gets along,” says Yahaira, a Senior Accountant at Whitney.

When everyone works together, the entire team succeeds. “Teamwork plays a very important role here at Whitney Transport,” says Staff Accountant, Anna Panjabi.

For others, learning and responsibility are values that are seen in the office each and every day.

Sunny Patel, the Partnership Success Coordinator, explains “You have the ability to kind of build your own future. You can choose what you want to do and grow at, and there’s not always a limitation on where you can help out or learn something new.”

Many team members note Whitney’s dedication to their long-term, personal success.

“Everyone here that I’ve worked with genuinely feels and acts like they want to help you,” says Bianca Grullon, the Risk Management & Office Coordinator. “They want to see you do well. They’re willing to invest their time in you, so it’s something that you want to be part of.”

Each and every day, members of the Whitney team are dedicated to not just knowing our values, but putting them into practice for our customers, drivers, key partners, and for each other.

“When we have company lunches or team gatherings, we really hone in on what we see in ourselves, and for the company, and what our overall mission is. Everyone is focused and wants to be a part of what the future is for the company,” says Bianca.

Our values C.I.R.C.L.E. is engrained in everything we do. Adam Taylor explains it’s what has helped us become “a fast-paced, forward-thinking team focused on raising the standard level of care for our employees, drivers and customers”.