4th July 2024: The relocation business, typically portrayed as a tangle of boxes and packing peanuts, is a complicated sector that keeps our globalized civilization running smoothly. And at the vanguard of this movement are extraordinary women who are breaking the rules and redefining what success means.
These aren’t your typical movers and packers. They are strategic leaders and innovators who bring a whole new viewpoint to the table. They emphasize teamwork and understanding, making the entire migration process easier and less stressful for everyone involved.
Let’s take a closer look at how these inspirational women are altering the relocation industry –
1. Lidia Yan, CEO, NEXT Trucking
Lidia Yan spent the first several years of her career in marketing and fashion companies before co-founding the trucking startup NEXT Trucking in 2015. She’s since raised $125 million from big-name investors like Sequoia Capital. She and her cofounder (and husband) Elton Chung built a business that streamlines and digitizes freight brokerage for short-haul truck trips out of major ports.
It was Chung’s experience in his family’s California warehousing business that illuminated the need to simplify and digitize truck booking. Yan’s advice for female founders is to focus on the numbers when pitching to investors.
2. Vani Gehani, General Manager at AVZA Move
With over 20 years of experience across multiple industries, Vani Gehani focuses on strategic business development, logistics and mobility, customer success, team building, operations, and relationship management. She specializes in implementing solutions that drive revenue growth and enhance productivity. Vani consistently delivers results in revenue growth, key account management, customer success, key stakeholder management, and driving high-performance teams. Her expertise in process optimization and developing profitable partnerships has contributed to her success in achieving business objectives.
At AVZA, Vani is dedicated to delivering innovative and collaborative client service, consistently exceeding client expectations. She understands the complexities of relocation and logistics and is committed to providing tailored solutions for each client engagement.
3. Erin Van Zeeland, Group Senior Vice President and General Manager, Schneider Logistics Services
After joining Schneider straight out of Penn State University, Van Zeeland has led what is now one of Schneider’s fastest-growing lines of business for nearly five years. Van Zeeland oversees a segment of the business that posted 49% year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter of 2021 and CFO Stephen Bruffett said the company’s overall 12% year-over-year revenue growth was owed to Schneider Logistics.
In her nearly three decades at Schneider, Van Zeeland has worked in brokerage, human resources, and business transformation before moving to logistics in 2016. She has overseen the company’s adoption of technologies like advanced data analytics and automation.
4. Sophia Pereira, Director – Customer Service & Customer Solution, DSV Air & Sea
Sophia Pereira is highly motivated, focused, and a strategic thinker with over 23 years of diverse experience in customer service, process architecture/governance, and systems implementation in freight forwarding operations, warehouse and distribution, finance, and workforce management. She is actively engaged in business strategy, product development, training, process standardization, and digitization. With a process-driven attitude, she has excelled in assisting business implementation in both front-end and back-end processes, demonstrating exemplary communication and project management skills.
Sophia Pereira, who has over 23 years of varied expertise in logistics, is the Director of Customer Service & Customer Solutions at DSV Air & Sea. She has succeeded in positions including goods forwarding operations, warehouse and distribution, finance, and workforce management. She has a strategic attitude and a strong emphasis on process optimization. Sophia drives efficiency and innovation by actively participating in training, product development, company strategy, and process standardization. Successful business implementations and process migrations have resulted from her proficiency in system implementation and digitization, as well as her excellent communication and project management abilities. Sophia’s dedication to honesty, collaboration, and process excellence keeps DSV Air & Sea focused on the needs of its clients.
