1) The Guillot family has been involved in the Louisiana trucking industry for over 65 years since Elmo Guillot's father-in-law founded Southeastern Motor Freight in 1945. 2) Elmo's sons Randy and Glen and now grandchildren Kristen and Mitchell have joined the family business, extending it into the fourth generation. 3) Randy serves as president of Triple G Express and Southeastern Motor Freight, while Glen focuses on accounting and administration as vice president, continuing the family legacy in the trucking industry.

1. The Guillot Dynasty
Enteringthe fourth generation
of louisianatrucking
Official Magazine of the Louisiana MotorTransport Association
Volume 1, Issue 4
Quarter 4, 2010
$4.95
Dr. OMV • CSA Goes Online • Fall Conference Review • Health Care Reform Overview

2. By Kelly Cargill
Contributing Writer
Every family has its traditions: bak-
ing grandma’s rolls every Thanksgiving,
opening a single gift on Christmas Eve,
vacations to the same cramped, but quaint
lake house every summer, working for
Triple G Express. Well, that last one really
only applies to one family: The Guillots.
The Guillot family has been
synonymous with Louisiana trucking
since Southeastern Motor Freight, Inc.
was founded in 1945 by Elmo Guillot’s
father-in-law, Aswell Pitre. Since then,
Elmo’s sons, Randy and Glen, and his
grandchildren, Kristen and Mitchell,
have joined the trucking family tree
extending it into the fourth generation.
Elmo, the patriarch
“I’ve been in the business since I got
out of high school in 1953,” Elmo Guillot
said. “It kind of happened by accident. I
thought I was working for another com-
pany, but I worked there for about a year
then went to Southeastern.” He tried out
various facets of the industry before going
into sales in the late 1950s. Then in 1968,
Elmo became the manager of Southeastern.
Not long after he entered truck-
ing, Elmo “started fooling with the
LMTA [Louisiana Motor Transport
Association]” at the local chapter level
TheGuillotDynasty
Entering the fourth generation of Louisiana trucking
in New Orleans. He steadily became
more involved until he reached LMTA’s
pinnacle as president in 1973.
At that time, the face of trucking
began to change dramatically as drivers’
unions grew and deregulation was imple-
mented. There was no better seat to watch
the changes unfold than those of the LMTA
board. “There was a big change in the
industry,” Elmo said. “There were a lot of
mom-and-pop operations at the time, but
we started to see more allied and private
carrier members. Big carriers got bigger,
and then a lot of them folded under.”
With the evolving trends, Elmo saw
a business opportunity. “Around 1980, I
started up an operation with owneropera-
tors delivering to Baton Rouge. I saw the
need for it, but didn’t have the time to
expand it.” As with so many other truck-
ing operations during deregulation, Elmo
and his business partner began to disagree
on the future of the company. In 1982,
Elmo and his wife, Charlene, bought her
father’s share of Southeastern. Fearing the
company might go under, Elmo’s young-
est son, Randy, answered trucking’s call.
Randy, the man outside
“Growing up in the business, we
knew there were opportunities, but it
wasn’t necessarily a given we’d go to
work there,” Randy, president of Triple
G Express, Inc. and Southeastern Motor
Freight, Inc., said. Randy was the first of
the third generation to enter trucking.
“I worked part time my last semester
of college. I’ve been in and continue to
work in sales, but I’ve also worked on
the docks, in the office, drove a little,
some safety here and there…there’s not
much I haven’t done around here.”
After graduating from Southeastern
Louisiana University in 1983, Randy
began working full time for Southeastern.
“Deregulation wasn’t supporting our
business,” Randy said. “We weren’t sure
if Southeastern was going to survive,
so we founded Triple G in 1985 with a
slightly different business model.” That
model was based on the owner-operator
business Elmo had wanted to grow.
“As the weeks, months, years went
along; Triple G became successful pretty
quickly, so we were able to buy the share
from Dad’s partner at Southeastern to
keep them both in operation.” Steadily,
Triple G has grown to more than 100
drivers with an office staff of 20.
“We have a conservative approach to
growth,” Randy said. “We are self-financed.
We live within our means even if it means
growing at a slower pace.” Although, at
the time he wasn’t officially an employee
of Southeastern (or Triple G), Randy’s
older brother, Glen receives much of the
credit for the efficient bookkeeping.
Glen, the numbers guy
“I started working for Southeastern
during summers and weekends in 1971,”
Glen, vice president of Southeastern
and didn’t return to trucking, or at least,
not right away. Instead, Glen took a
job with the Federal Reserve Bank.
“It was great training experience
and I got to travel a lot,” Glen said. It
Continues
“My mom told me that
she and my dad never
gave anything to my
brother and me other
than an opportunity.
I think that’s true.”
- Glen Guillot
Randy, Elmo and Glen Guillot
20 Open Road Q4 2010 Open Road Q4 2010 21
Photography by John Ballance

3. Jim C. Klepper, Esq.
800-417-3552
www.driverslegalplan.com
Get Someone
on Your Side
®
A National Law Firm Dedicated to Trucking.
A Legal Defense Plan Designed By and For Truckers.
Vital Protection for America’s Best Drivers
and Trucking Companies.
DriversLegal Plan
was the travel that, after five years and
a couple of newborns, would convince
him to change jobs. Staying in bank-
ing, Glen took a position with the First
National Bank in Jefferson. “I still trav-
eled a lot, but at least it was in the state,”
Glen said. The timing of his change
coincided with the founding of Triple G.
“Glen started doing account-
ing as a second job at night when we
were starting Triple G,” Randy said.
“When we bought out Southeastern
[in 1990], he came in full-time.”
Working two jobs, traveling, being
a husband and a father; no, it wasn’t easy.
“It was pretty wild trying to work nights,”
Glen said. “I was doing all the account-
ing, payroll, administrative work at night
for Triple G. It was very time consum-
ing, but very much worth the effort.”
Glen knew an ultimatum of sorts
was coming from his father. “I felt very
prepared when my dad came to me.
He said, ‘My partner and I aren’t really
agreeing; one of us is going to buy out
the other. What are your intentions?’ It
was a sort of now-or-never question.”
So after working for the bank
for five years, Glen made the decision
he, too, would be part of the Guillot
trucking dynasty. “The experience
with the bank has been very valuable
to me,” Glen said. “I have no regrets.
My mom told me that she and my dad
never gave anything to my brother and
me other than an opportunity. I think
that’s true. They didn’t hand us this
business on a silver platter. We’re very
proud of our family and our business.”
Unique business, unique issues
Being a successful, long-standing
family business isn’t the only thing that
makes Triple G unique. Triple G is also one
of the largest intermodal carriers serving
the Port of New Orleans. While based out
of Jefferson, La., Triple G also has offices
in Memphis, Tenn. and Port Allen, La.,
servicing a 14-state area for containers,
piggybacks and volume break bulk.
Early in his career, Elmo Guillot
saw the benefits of sharing ideas and
collective problem solving with oth-
ers in the industry. After first getting
involved with LMTA, Elmo became
involved with the American Trucking
Associations, specifically in intermodal.
The importance of these associations is
something Elmo instilled in his sons.
Currently, Randy sits on the LTMA
board as First Vice President. “Dad taught
us how valuable LMTA was to the busi-
ness,” Randy said. “Besides having news on
current events, you have a lot of interac-
tions with others in the business who you
can learn from and get politically active.”
His brother was LMTA president
from 2001 to 2003. “LMTA was part of
our family life,” Glen said. “My parents
would go the conventions every year. It’s
easy to take for granted since it’s something
everyone should be doing, but it’s paid
off for us more than most, I think.”
During his presidency, Glen and
the LMTA took on a political battle near
and dear to Triple G: the intermodal
chassis “roadability” rule. “The inter-
modal roadability issue was not front-
and-center in Washington yet even
though several states were taking it on,
so we decided to tackle the issue.”
Now, two years since the Federal
Motor Carriers Safety Administration
(FMCSA) issued a rule to “signifi-
cantly strengthen safety requirements”
for intermodal container chassis, all
three Guillot men cite advancements in
safety as the biggest improvements to the
industry with government regulations
and economics as the biggest hurdles.
Although they all mentioned eco-
nomic woes, Triple G and Southeastern
are uniquely positioned as intermodal
carriers in exports to actually prosper
even as the U.S. economy drops. “We’re
affected by the national economy,” Randy
admits, “but even more so by the global
economy. When the value of the dol-
lar goes down, our business goes up
because we’re able to export more.”
For Elmo, Randy and Glen, truck-
ing is all about rolling with the punches
and making the most of what you have.
“We’ve been fairly fortunate the last 18-23
months because exports have been fairly
strong,” Glen said. “There’s no doubt
Southeastern and Triple G will survive.”
Who’s the boss
Elmo Guillot’s status is listed
as retired, but asking Randy when
the retirement became official, he
laughed and said, “Well, that’s hard
to say.” Apparently, you can take the
man out of the truck, but you’ll never
get Elmo Guillot out of trucking.
“I’m the old man of the group,”
Elmo admits. “I get involved in serious
problems with insurance, equipment or
labor negotiations. If things are going
on that I don’t like, I get into it.”
Neither brother seems to mind. In
fact, they welcome his input. “Dad picks
up on things that Randy and I don’t catch,
then he makes sure they’re on our mind
all day,” Glen said. “He’ll pull into the gate,
drive around the yard; he doesn’t even
have to make it into the office before he
finds something. When he calls, I make
sure I have a pen and paper handy.”
Elmo’s all-seeing-eye coupled with
Randy’s natural inclination for sales and
Glen’s affinity for numbers has been an
organic formula for the sustainability
and growth of their family businesses.
As Elmo said, “Randy loves the outside.
Glen loves the inside.” And Elmo is there
making sure neither misses a step.
“Glen and I have had a good
relationship through our careers,”
Randy said. “I’m more on the cus-
tomer end while he’s on the financial
part. We’ve been equal partners.”
Glen agrees—as they so often do.
“My brother and I get along very well,”
Glen said. “Based on personalities and pref-
erences, there was just a natural segrega-
tion of duties. We tell our employees: Don’t
try to play one brother against the other.”
Although their employees aren’t
relatives, they’re still treated like fam-
ily. “When Hurricane Katrina hit us, it
was a devastating blow,” Glen recalled.
“Our drivers were scattered all over
the area. Our employees couldn’t come
back because they didn’t have a home to
live in, and if they did, they didn’t have
electricity.” So they opened their lot and
housed 18 FEMA trailers, complete with
water and electricity for their employ-
ees within two weeks of the storm.
“We have a great support system with
lots of long-time, very valuable employees,”
Randy said. Employing their own children,
it’s not surprising the Guillots have built
strong companies to support other strong
families. “Our goal,” Glen said, “is to bring
the next generation in with the same values
we have, the same ones Dad taught us:
to learn the business from the inside out
and to expect bigger and better results.”
That next generation--currently
only Kristen and Mitchell--didn’t feel any
pressure to join the family business; only
pride. “If I told my dad [Glen] tomorrow
I wanted to do something else,” Kristen
Plaisance said, “he would say ‘go for it’
and wouldn’t bat an eye. I do expect a
lot of myself, though, to work as hard
as I know my dad, grandfather and
uncle have worked to bring Triple G and
Southeastern to where they are today.”
Randy’s son, Mitchell agrees. “I
feel like I have to go a step farther in
everything I do to please my relatives, not
because they expect me to, but because I
want to show them how much I want to
be a part of the history of this company
and grow with it as time progresses.” X
“Dad taught us
how valuable LMTA
was to the business.
Besides having
news on current
events, you have a
lot of interactions
with others in the
business who you can
learn from and get
politically active.”
—Randy Guillot
22 Open Road Q4 2010 Open Road Q4 2010 23
(Left to Right) Mitchell Guillot, Randy
Guillot, Kristen Plaisance, Glen Guillot and
Elmo Guillot with photo of Aswell Pitre.

4. 916 St. George Ave. • Jefferson, LA 70121
Phone: 504.731.2829 • Fax: 504.731.2832
Experience Matters
For 65 years, Southeastern Motor Freight has built relationships in Louisiana’s
transportation industry. Let us start a new tradition with your company today.
Celebrating65Years
New Orleans Baton Rouge Memphis
800 St. George Ave., Suite B 770 Allendale Drive 2040 Airways Blvd.
Jefferson, LA 70121 Port Allen, LA 70767 Memphis, TN 38114
504.731.2841 225.387.8646 901.745.1448
Is Bigger Better?
Only when the job is done right.
Call Triple G Express today to
find out why so many of our
customers have made us one
of the largest intermodal motor
carriers serving the Port of
New Orleans.
Thanks to our loyal customers, Triple G Express celebrates our 25th Anniversary!