BY MITCH MAC DONALD, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A THOUGHTLEADERS
JOHN JANSON’S CAREER JOURNEY IN LOGISTICS BEGAN ALMOST 40 YEARSago, although he didn’t know it at the time. It was 1983, and he had just graduatedfrom college with a degree in communications. While he was hoping to land a jobin his field, it wasn’t in the cards. The job market was the tightest it had been in thepost-war era, with unemployment in the high single digits. So when he was offered ajob in sales by a local trucking firm, Janson accepted it.
That job started him down a path that included stops at a number of major motorcarriers before he crossed the fence to work as a shipper—in this case, managinglogistics for an Idaho-based tech startup called Micron PC. From there, he went onto manage logistics operations at companies that included MWI Animal Health/AmerisourceBergen, Bodybuilding.com, and now apparel wholesaler SanMar, wherehe serves as head of global logistics.
Although somewhat unusual, that career trajectory has provided Janson with anumber of benefits. For starters, the fence-hopping has given him the perspectiveof both a buyer and a seller of logistics services. More importantly, perhaps, it hasallowed him to cultivate the strong business generalist skill set that’s so often thehallmark of successful logistics and supply chain professionals.
During his nearly 40-yearcareer in logistics,John Janson has workedas both a seller and abuyer of logistics services.
That proved to be just thebackground he neededto deal with the recenttrucking capacity crunch.
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN JANSON
Looking at logistics
from both sides now
