Bryn Heimbeck is co-founder and president of Trade Tech.  He began his career working for OOCL in Chicago, then took on several leadership positions for the company in Hong Kong.  He later moved to Seattle to join a forwarding company and began focusing on the logistics side of the business.  Bryn was an early believer that logistics processes could be radically improved through software and automation.  Upon witnessing the significant changes sweeping the manufacturing process with the introduction of the Quality Assurance Process, Bryn became eager to apply this new thinking to the logistics services business where customer satisfaction was exceedingly low.

Bryn and Kevin teamed up in 1992 where Kevin’s “can-do” spirit and capacity to write software combined with Bryn’s business knowledge and strong design skills. Together, they created a core of applications for the international logistics industry based on the concepts of Quality Assurance. The two teamed again in 1995 when Bryn joined Fritz Companies to direct product development for their Transpacific NVOCC Service.  Their combination of technology and innovative carrier strategy led to a doubling of cargo volumes in three years.

Trade Tech was founded in 1997 in Seattle. Today it has 11 offices in 7 countries and serves +400 customers worldwide.  Bryn and Kevin’s vision of a Cloud-based integrated logistics application has earned Trade Tech a leadership position in the industry, creating today’s most innovative and easy to use logistics software solutions.

Bryn developed a passion for learning and international adventure at a young age being the son of a teacher and college professor whose careers afforded them the opportunity to travel abroad.  Bryn has lived in Europe and Asia and has traveled extensively for both business and pleasure.  He currently resides near Seattle.  Bryn is an avid sailor, skier, and outdoor sports enthusiast - enjoying them most when alongside his three sons.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bryn-heimbeck/8/b50/493

Kevin is a co-founder and vice president of system development at Trade Tech.  Kevin was deeply involved designing software applications in the 80’s for light industry, especially engraving.  His focus was on efficiency, quality control, and productivity improvement in low cost manufacturing.   Bryn and Kevin began teaming up in 1992 when the two of them began experimenting with service automation for the forwarding business. 

Both Bryn and Kevin wanted to see the industry move out of a documentation orientation and into a process flow environment where operations people were guided and assisted through the process of providing logistics management with process controls, on-demand expertise, and customer tailored directives. 

Kevin was fascinated early on with the advent of the commercial Internet in 1995.  He began developing alternative screen applications that could leverage HTML to capture or render information via the Internet from a single computer.  His focus on a single computer serving users globally was at the core of the company’s cloud based concept. 

Kevin is an avid eclectic music lover and foodie.  You will often find him musing through the alternative music sections of Seattle’s record stores or frequenting the off the beaten track restaurants around Seattle’s Capital Hill or Bell Town districts with his wife Deborah.

Dan Herbert has been in the transportation and logistics field for more than 30 years.  He has worked at Sea-Land, Trans Ocean Leasing, and APL on the East Coast, Singapore and their Oakland HQ where he held various senior level positions.  In early 2002, Dan co-founded a division within Textainer which employed Trade Tech’s operating system to provide data input services for NVOCC compliance with US Customs security filings.  The collaboration proved a great fit and led Trade Tech to purchase the division from Textainer, enabling them to immediately expand to international markets with offices throughout Asia and Europe.

Dan believes the cloud-based software applications Trade Tech provides will become a necessity to serve the ever-changing needs of the industry.  The efficiency of the supply chain will only be fully realized as the participants throughout the supply chain can participate and provide value added information in the same platform.

Dan is a member of the Trade Advisory Committee to the Trade Support Network group established by US Customs and Border Protection.  He is Chairman of the Oakland Strokes youth rowing organization in Oakland, CA and serves as a board member on a non-profit international educational foundation.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-herbert/8/478/898

Jackson Chen studied Supply Chain Management at University and began his career with ERP system implementation and logistics initiatives such as VMI.  He joined the sales team at Trade Tech in 2003 and has been introducing customers to all aspects of the system, from security filings, to rate management, to operations and accounting applications.  He currently serves as the Director of Sales in Asia and resides in Taipei, Taiwan.

Jackson's years of experience with NVOCC customers in Asia have demonstrated that there is a favorable trend in moving business into a web-based environment.  It is a proven a cost-saving measure, and efficiency is gained by having accessibility anywhere in the world to a single, cloud-based database.  He envisions that within a few years, most logistics systems will be delivered via the internet.  Companies such as Trade Tech will be the primary source for IT, allowing freight forwarders to focus their efforts on selling cargo space and providing services to their customers.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jackson-chen/1/16a/b92

Tom Lloyd serves as Director, Sales for Trade Tech.  His career in the global ocean transportation industry spans thirty years.  He has served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales at Global Maritime Transportation Services, President of Libra USA, and Vice President of International Pricing for Crowley American Transport Lines.  Prior to that time, he held a variety of executive-level sales and management positions at United States Lines, Inc.

Lloyd’s knowledge of the ocean carrier industry, intermodal transportation, and industry pricing is enhanced by extensive experience with systems integration and design of transportation software applications.  He possesses high-tech logistics and ocean regulatory expertise, having played an executive role in an internet-based transportation company.  In addition to his many years in various international trades, Lloyd has traveled extensively, both domestically and abroad, and was an industry expert on the Committee to Review the Shipping Act of 1984 in Washington, D.C.

An alumnus of Bucknell University (B.A. Economics), Lloyd resides in Rhode Island, where he is active in shoreline economic and environmental issues and serves on the boards of The Westerly Land Trust, Nopes Island Conservation Association, and The Rhode Island Statewide Coalition.  He also serves as the Moderator of the Shelter Harbor Fire District in Westerly, R.I.

Elisabeth Corjet has served as a Marketing and Business Development Manager for logistics providers since 1990, first at CMA CGM then later for OOCL in New York, USA and Osaka, Japan.  Additionally, she has owned and operated her own import business for more than 10 years.  Her education includes a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a Master's Degree in International Management.  She currently serves as Trade Tech's Sales Director for Western Europe in Lyon, France.

Elisabeth envisions Trade Tech's presence in the FF/NVOCC community as an essential part of its evolving growth.  She believes the innovative ideas and new products Trade Tech introduces to the market position them as a leader in the logistics management industry.

http://fr.linkedin.com/pub/elisabeth-corjet/39/aba/737

Christy Laufman began her career in logistics in 1990 at the Customs Brokerage Department of Fritz Co., Inc. in Los Angeles,CA.  In 1992, she transferred to their Seattle, WA office were she ultimately became the Import Supervisor for that division.  In 1997, Christy became the Import Compliance Manager for the Seattle importer, Pacific Rim Imports.  Christy joined the team of Trade Tech in 2004 where she became the manager of the customer service and product development teams.  She currently serves as the Director of Customer Service.

As the transportation industry moves toward self-sufficiency on the part of independent freight forwarders, Christy brings her invaluable customs house brokerage expertise to the support center at Trade Tech.  She champions the support team in their vision of educating clients to navigate the regulations of security filings and other complex import/export requirements in both the clerical and administrative domain.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/christy-laufman/2/56b/148

Bill Fehr has served as a loud computing expert and application business strategist for more than 15 years.  His expertise has been sought by many industry giants, including Cisco Systems, Cendant Mobility, Manpower, and Logitech.

Bill believes cloud computing for NVO operations, including accounting, will become standard operating procedure in the future, as it will become too costly and time consuming to run in-house software development and maintenance teams.  In-house teams will not be able to compete with the innovation and speed at which NVO cloud computing delivers competitive advantages to its NVO users.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/billfehrtradetech

Ken Ortloff has 20+ years of dynamic global experience, ranging from business ownership to global logistics experience including steamship lines, global and domestic 3PLs as well as industry leading technology providers.

Ken believes that Trade Tech's unmatched domain experience and rich technology development will continue to enable Trade Tech to be a pioneer in the Cloud & SaaS space. The integrated software modules are uniquely positioned to offer clients a solution to streamline processes and maximize efficiencies. With Trade Tech's aggressive roadmap, clients will continue to gain & strengthen tactical and strategic advantages over competitors all while realizing a robust ROI.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenortloff

Christine Pitt began her career in Europe working for an Intra-European Shipping Line in Customer Service and Sales.  After emigrating to the United States in the 1980s, she began working for APL in Oakland, CA.  Her first position at APL was Sales Support and later became Sales Executive for the Transpacific Eastbound and Westbound markets in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Christine then managed the Documentation and Customer Support functions at APL’s Oakland Terminal.  She later transferred to APL’s Oakland headquarters where she became Pricing Manager.  After gaining experience in APL’s Business Planning Department she became Global Accounts Manager, involving APL’s liner, domestic, and logistics divisions, and ultimately became Manager of APL’s Corporate Marketing Department.  Christine joined the sales team at Trade Tech in 2008 and currently serves as the Manager of the Contract Database Team. 

Christine has implemented processes to ensure contract and surcharge accuracy above 99%.  She directs a team of seasoned industry professionals with extensive experience in carrier operations and contract and tariff pricing.  The vision of the team is to enable Trade Tech customers to easily and accurately convert buy rates into sell rates.  This is accomplished by timely and accurate input of contracts and by maintaining the most comprehensive and accurate database of carrier surcharges available on the market today.

Sharon Chandler began her career in international trade working for the Department of Treasury/U.S. Customs.  After gaining first-hand knowledge of U.S. trade security and regulations, she began working for Fritz Companies in their import customs brokerage department and later joined Clearfreight, an NVO/Freight Forwarder/Customs Broker, as their Seattle Branch Manager and licensed Customs Broker. During her 10 years at Clearfreight, Sharon worked on all facets of customer service, ocean and air freight, supply chain management, customs and other governmental agency regulatory compliance.  Sharon joined Trade Tech in 2005 as Customer Service Manager and Contract Team Manager.  She currently serves as the Director of Implementation.

Sharon shares Trade Tech’s vision of providing user-friendly software applications for freight forwarders which enable them to increase their profit margins while lightening their workload.  She believes that an operating system which is easily accessible and allows a seamless flow of information though all aspects of the logistical, accounting, and security aspects of business is an essential part of a logistics provider’s success.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sharon-chandler/7/bab/a7a

Simon Xu studied both Computer Science and International Economics at University, making him uniquely qualified to move into the logistics software application field.  He joined Trade Tech in 2003 at the Shanghai, China office.  Simon has spent his years at Trade Tech acquiring knowledge of many aspects of the Logistics and Freight Forwarding Industry--in particular pricing, operations, accounting, and security filing for U.S. Customs.

Simon believes more and more forwarding and logistics companies will have ever increasing requirements for systems to improve their work efficiency and enhance the service level to their customers.  He envisions that in the near future, especially in China, people will more heavily rely and focus on systems for their business in order to offset the rising cost of labor.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/simon-xu/37/a26/a21

Christine has been training and managing groups of business professionals for more than 15 years.  Her international work experience includes several years abroad as an educator and business manager in Asia and Africa.  She currently resides in the U.S. and oversees the Trade Tech sailing schedule team in Shanghai.

Since joining the Trade Tech team in 2009, Christine has implemented auditing procedures to ensure sailing schedule accuracy above 99%.  The vision of the team is to maintain the most comprehensive, up-to-date database of worldwide sailing schedules, vessel information, and service maps available in the market today. 

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/christine-herbert/30/5aa/7b9

Danny Chow attained experience and knowledge of the transportation industry as part of a business development team on Trans Siberian railway cargo and break bulk cargo transportation in China.

Danny recognizes that internet communication has become part of daily life, and applications of various businesses are delivered via the web. Trade Tech’s integrated logistics system is on the cutting edge of this trend. In the near future, He envisions the trend toward cloud computing will continue to play an increasingly important role in the transportation industry.