Kevin Nolan ’00 (second from right) is presented a jersey and helmet from the Blue Hose football team following the former player’s business lecture in Edmunds Hall.

Presbyterian College alumnus Kevin Nolan ’00 shared some of the secrets of his success during the annual Truist Lecture on Free Enterprise this week.

Nolan, a former Blue Hose football team member, is the founder and chief executive of several businesses, namely Nolan Transportation Group, a third-party logistics company, and Sope Creek Capital, an investment capital firm.

After graduating from PC, Nolan began his professional career at C.H. Robinson, the largest freight broker in the United States. At the company, Nolan said, he learned the ins and outs of the relatively new industry and developed ideas for improving it.

“While I was working there, I noticed there were not a lot of freight brokers,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of players in the industry. It was a brand new baby industry with not a lot of technology and not a lot of new players.”

So, Nolan quit his job at C.H. Robinson and worked a few years in management for Waffle House while earning his MBA from Mercer University and waiting out the non-compete clause in his former contract. In 2005, he founded NTG, whose logo bears the image of a rhinoceros.

Kevin Nolan ’00

“Any idea why?” he asked. “The first reason is they have thick skins. We know we’re going to be told ‘no’ sometimes, so when we do, we’re just going to move on. The other reason is that a group of rhinos is called a ‘crash.’ So, when a group of rhinos show up for the party, we like to say we crashed it.”

Indeed, Nolan said NTG did crash the logistics industry party – growing from a company of three employees in a 700-square-foot office to one with $2 billion in revenue in 14 offices across the country.

“When I started this business, I had one goal in mind – to become one of the top five freight brokers in the U.S.,” he said. “Every day, when everyone walks into our office, they know that’s our goal. And they know that we’re going to hit it.”

Nolan predicted NTG will move up from 12th to ninth this year, “which is going to be a big, big, big win for us.”

Nolan said that winning in business is essential, but it should not be a zero-sum game with only one winner.

“To be a zero sum investor means you win at all costs,” he said. “I do not like those environments. I’ve been in them before and I met partners that are that way. But I like a win-win. When I buy and sell a business, I want some meat on the bone that they can still make money. If I’m going to invest in an entrepreneur, I want them to invest with me. And we both make money together.”

Providing excellent customer service is paramount, as well, Nolan said.

“The small trucker in America gets zero service,” he said. “He’s honked at on the road the whole way. He is yelled at by the freight brokers or someone else who tells him he’s late. His insurance company is telling him he needs to pay his premiums, or his policy is going to get canceled.

“So, we constantly want to give these truckers incredible service because they don’t get it anywhere else. We want to make sure that they’re treated well when they deal with us because, I promise you, truckers are not treated the way that they should be. They move everything across America.”

Developing a great working environment where the company brand is understood and clearly communicated is also important, Nolan said.

“The message has to be the same from top down – period,” he said. “If it gets conflicted with your management team – if the CFO is talking differently than the CEO – it just won’t work.”

Nolan also told future entrepreneurs how important it is to stick to their core competencies – using the Atlanta Falcons’ epic meltdown in Super Bowl LI as an example of what not to do.

“I’m a diehard Falcons fan,” Nolan said. “It’s 28-3 and we should have just run the ball. Just keep running and run out the clock. But they wanted to throw and got away from what they needed to do to win. So, stick to your core competencies. I get it. Management teams get bored. It is very easy to get bored and forget what you’re good at. But if it’s what you’re good at, keep doing it over and over and over.”