1) ICAT Logistics is an agency-based freight forwarding company that is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It focuses on supporting the growth of its agency partners. 2) ICAT prioritizes helping its agency partners succeed by providing support, guidance, and referrals. It aims to be the #1 agency-based freight forwarder in the US. 3) ICAT has experienced steady growth over 20 years. It typically adds 2+ new offices annually and recently expanded into Latin America and Europe. ICAT's success is tied to the success of its agency partners.

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The Official Publication of the Airforwarders Association
Summer 2013
FORWARD
Inside:
AirCargo2013Wrap-Up
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Agency-Based Model Thrives on
ICAT LOGISTICS AT 20:
‘You Grow, We Grow’ Teamwork

2. AfA Member Profile
Forward Magazine 4 Summer 2013 Airforwarders Association16
Agency-BasedModelThriveson
‘YouGrow,WeGrow’Teamwork
“The people at the home office put
themselves in our shoes every day.”
T
hat’s how Michelle Ulery, the ICAT Logistics agency partner who owns three separate
offices, explains her relationship with ICAT’s World headquarters—aka, “the home
office.” She appreciates the ICAT system, because she knows all too well the flip side
from her past experiences with a previous company.
“I heard about ICAT back in 2007. At that time, I had my own business and represented a
competitor. I was getting frustrated by the lack of support they were giving my company—
which was the largest agency in their system. We were being treated as though it was a burden
to work with us, so I began making arrangements to bolt,” she said.
Today, Ulery appreciates everything about her alignment with ICAT. An avowed entrepreneur,
she relies on the home office to help her with complicated RFPs, insurance questions,
personnel guidance or whatever additional assists she may need to grow her business. One of
the recent highlights was Ulery’s ability to open the Dallas office with a bang, going from $0 to
$600,000 in revenues within the first six months, thanks to the joint effort with—and referrals
from—the home office.
ICATLogisticsat20:

3. 17airforwarders.org Summer 2013 4 Forward Magazine
Like Ulery, ICAT believes in the power of
entrepreneurism, which is what has propelled
the Elkridge, MD.-based company that
celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. “We
think when there’s skin in the game, the
commitment rises,” says Rick Campbell,
ICAT’s president and CEO, who created
ICAT “from the ground up,” and is proud
that original employees and agency partners
continue to be affiliated with the company
two decades later.
The company has grown in most of its 20
years, and typically adds two or more new
offices annually. In recent years, ICAT
has been focusing on not only growing
domestically, but globally as well. So far
in 2013, ICAT has signed on two more
offices, San Juan and Miami, to be more
internationally focused and to expand its
reach into the European and Latin American
markets.
Laser Focus: Being
#1 Agency-Based
Freight Forwarder
“About three years ago, we identified our
“sandbox”—ICAT would strive to be the
#1 agency-based freight forwarder in the
United States. That’s our goal – clear, concise
and simple. Making that decision meant we
were not going to take a piece of our agency
partners’ income to fund our own company
stores. We would fund our agency partners’
growth instead,” Campbell explains.
Most franchisors follow a model that contains
a mix of “owner-operated and franchised”
offices, which can pit one form of ownership
against another. ICAT chose to abandon that
arrangement so its agency partners would not
have to question allegiances or efforts “in the
trenches.”
Agency partners find that ICAT is willing to
work “outside of the box” on their behalf. As
Jim Vespa, vice president of finance explains
it: “We go above and beyond in working
for our agency partners, because our success
is tied to them.” How does that look, in
practice? “If a piece of business doesn’t fit
nicely inside the contractual box from a fee
standpoint, but the opportunity has merit,
often we’ll work with them, in those cases, to
come up with a mutually beneficial solution,”
he says.
Another way ICAT assists agency partners
is by providing a “big picture” view of their
business, which can be difficult to see for the
day-by-day operator. Such was the case with
an ICAT office that relied on home delivery
of consumer electronics purchased online.
“On the surface, the business looked good,
high shipment volume, attractive revenues
—but this business has the knack of being
a very claims-intensive business, and the
margins are thin. At the end of the day, after
factoring in all the costs, you really aren’t
making any money,” Vespa remarks. Using
the numbers, the ICAT home office team
convinced the partner to pursue other types
of business. “As a result, #1 they’re much
more profitable today, and #2, it saves us a
ton of time in the back office,” he explains.
Some freight forwarders might have simply
cut ties with an agency that was creating
more work for the home office. Not ICAT.
“In our case, we live and die with our
agencies; they make or break us, and once
on board and through our process, we do
everything we can to help them succeed,”
he says. “Yeah, we could’ve decided to move
in another direction, but we clearly wanted
to keep them in the fold, by getting them
refocused and redirected into more profitable
business.” The mark of a good partner is best
determined by interactions not just during
good times, but also in how the partner reacts
during adversity.
Accelerating Agency
Owners’ Growth
Because Campbell started ICAT in 1993,
he has seen his share of market expansions
and contractions—including the post 9/11
fallout and the most recent slog through the
Great Recession. Through it all, he has led
the company with energy, focus and integrity,
qualities that—with the company’s impressive
growth statistics—earned him the honor of
receiving the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of
the Year award in 2006.
In 2005 and 2006, ICAT Logistics appeared
on Inc. 500’s fastest growing private company
list—and in recent years has experienced
growth of 1.2% from 2009 to 2010, and
8.8% from 2010 to 2011—again, during a
period when many companies in the industry
failed to survive.
It was in 2010 that Campbell had a
discussion with his longest standing agency
partner, Dan Cser in Detroit, who has been
with ICAT 19 of the 20 years it has been in
business. “Dan and I have always interacted
and consulted one another from the very
beginning,” says Campbell. “Detroit was
probably one of the hardest hit markets
during the recession, and we decided to focus
on Danny’s office growth.” The end result? A
35% increase in revenues from the previous
year.
The biggest obstacle for Cser was his
understandable reluctance to hire a
salesperson when the economy was so
lackluster. However, Cser was considering
buying a competitor’s business. Campbell
convinced Cser to suggest, instead, that the
seller reassess his business, and become an
independent salesperson on commission for
ICAT. “I’ll help you show him the monetary
benefits and the lifestyle benefits,” Campbell
recalls telling Cser.
Today, that salesperson reports that taking
Cser up on that offer was “the single best
decision he’s ever made professionally,” with
more time for selling—because he wasn't
running a business—and just as important,
more time for himself and his family,
Campbell explains. “Our job is relatively
simple,” says Campbell, “to help others grow
by truly looking at what is best for them, and
we will do just fine ourselves.”
Cser appreciates the relationship he has
with Campbell and the supportive crew at
ICAT home office. “The value they have is
that they’re the hardest-working executive
team in the industry, and they are a readily
available resource to the agency owner, to
help in whatever endeavor the owner is trying
to accomplish—whether it’s operations
or training or sales recruiting or sales
“We think when
there’s skin in
the game, the
commitment
rises,” says Rick
Campbell, ICAT’s
president and
CEO, who created
ICAT “from the
ground up,”

4. AfA Member Profile
Forward Magazine 4 Summer 2013 Airforwarders Association18
generation,” says Cser, who runs an office
with eight employees that does 80% of its
business in the automotive market. “They will
help you in any area that is not your strength,
but yet important in running a successful
business.”
All an agency owner has to do is say, “I need
help with ….,” and the ICAT home office
will research ways to assist. “They will do
coaching sessions at any interval you want, if
you need it,” Cser notes. “The whole time I’ve
been affiliated with ICAT, I’ve always been
treated as a partner—not just as an office out
in the field.”
Cser’s input has helped not only himself,
but other agency partners as well, since
his “lessons learned” become part of the
business model. That kind of sharing—“to
make it better for other business owners
who come on board”—is a large part of the
“partnership” concept that drives ICAT,
says Cser, whose office handles a good deal
of international shipping, whether it’s an
oversized piece of equipment that needs
specialty handling, or finding a freight vendor
to field all of a client’s shipping needs.
International Growth:
ICAT’s Global Presence
ICAT has done business internationally for
years, including the daunting task of moving
an entire water amusement park from the
U.S. to Saipan in 2003. “We’ve been involved
helping firms on the international side for
quite a while, and that has become the fastest
growing segment of our business over the last
several years,” said Campbell.
Today, many companies are running lean,
lacking the expertise or time to analyze how
to best manage an international supply chain.
That spells opportunity for ICAT. “We’re
a mentor, an educator, and in some cases
an adviser,” says Campbell. For instance, a
Baltimore company that makes smart phone
covers grew from infancy to $50 million in
five years. “They source overseas, and while
they have done an incredible job in many
key areas necessary for this type of growth,
international logistics per se is not part of
that expertise depth,” he explains. “They’re
bringing goods in from China via a well-
known carrier. They paid a very heavy bounty
due to the method and manner in which they
used that carrier—but that’s all they knew,
because they were so focused on reliably
fulfilling promises to their key national
customers.”
Now, this company consults with ICAT
about various issues, including custom
regulations. “That’s a trend that will
continue in our industry. Companies that
can customize the added services, build
partnerships, will add value,” Campbell
explains.
Another example of how ICAT delivers on
that value proposition comes from Keith
Buford, vice president of global operations.
“We think it’s critical that we build an
end-to-end turnkey product so that our
agency partners can go out and pursue new
clients, competing against the multinational
forwarders for the supply chain business.
We want to be able to offer them a solution,
from an IT standpoint, from an overseas
agency standpoint and from a global
expertise standpoint with the support of the
international home office folks. We can bring
big picture ideas and solutions that they can
take to their clients and, collectively, everyone
wins: the customer, the agency and the home
office,” he explains.
Many of ICAT’s agents have close local
relationships with companies they have
served domestically for years. “They might
do distribution for a particular product. Our
international expertise allows the agency
partner to ask, ‘How do you get your product
here?’, which opens the opportunity to quote
the business from the factory in Vietnam to
the U.S.,” says Buford. Or, ICAT might look
at a huge distribution center in California,
and ask the client about where products are
shipped to find ways of moving products
closer to customers. Another option is to
help agencies’ clients manufacturing in the
U.S. discover ways to sell into the Chinese or
Japanese markets.
By strategizing with a multinational
electronics customer, for instance, Keith
and his team managed to save that client
hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
They examined its international operations,
and then recommended the purchase of a
warehouse the company had been leasing
so it could be converted into a bonded
warehouse with U.S. Customs. “This allowed
them to pay duty only when they used a
product for manufacturing,” says Buford.
“We have over 400 agents throughout the
world,” Buford points out. “That allows us
to not only focus on major markets, but
ancillary markets as well.”
Highlighting ‘The ICAT Way’
Jeanie Perkins, ICAT vice president of
administration, has been part of the company
for the past 20 years. New to the logistics
industry when she started, Perkins helped
Campbell build the business in ways that
made sense to them—whether it was the
traditional “freight forwarder” method, or
not.
Her focus on agency partners is to treat them
with the “utmost respect,” and to do the same
for their customers, revising client practices
as needed, for instance. “We’ll be supportive
in helping to train them if they need HR
assistance, or if they want help with an
assessment before hiring someone,” she said.
“We want to be their resource.”
Perkins coordinates monthly one-on-
one “collaboration growth calls” between
Campbell and each agency partner so they
can explore goals and obstacles together.
“That’s been huge,” she said, in promoting
agency success.
At ICAT, it is everyone’s responsibility to
share ideas and to speak up if someone sees
a better way to accomplish goals. That’s how
they deliver on their commitment: “One
Call. Right Solution…DONE!”
“Our succinct messaging empowers every
member of our team. Our Values, Our
Mission, Our Vision and our Customer
Promise allow each of our folks to act
accordingly in their dealings with our internal
and external partners,” Campbell, the CEO,
says. His guiding principle is “growth,” for
everyone the company touches. “Keeping
my focus is the most important growth
decision I’ve made on behalf of ICAT. For
many years, we were opportunistic—not
necessarily strategic—as a company. Now, we
state it simply: Our “sandbox” is to be the #1
agency-based freight forwarder in the United
States, as defined by the number of stations
in the U.S.,” Campbell explains.
Detroit’s agency owner Cser attests to the end
result: “At ICAT, it’s always about ‘win-win.’
If that’s what you’re looking for, join ICAT
and watch your business grow.”