Thought Leaders Breakfast
Tue, Mar 18, 2025 |
8:00AM - 9:30AM
Thought Leaders Breakfast
The Making of Western Express as a National Brand
Description
The Making of Western Express as a National Brand
Western Express started with 5 trucks in 1991. In 1996 the current CEO, Paul Wieck, joined the company as a sales rep. From 1996-2006 the company grew from 35 trucks to 3000 trucks acquiring companies and growing organically. Through the 2007 financial crisis the company downsized and the owner passed away suddenly in 2010. Paul Wieck stepped in to become CEO and brought in two of his three children to help round out his leadership team. Paul Wieck II joined from IBM in 2011, followed by Crissy Wieck in 2012 from running the Nashville Dell facility. At the time the company had shrunk to 2200 trucks. Across the last 13 years, the company has transformed and grown to 3600 trucks and over 10,000 trailers. As a $1B business in Nashville with 5000 associates, including drivers, and 800 non driving associates, Western Express is one of the largest businesses in Nashville and one of the largest privately held trucking companies in the country.
Nashville native Crissy Wieck spent 12 years at Dell Nashville, rising to lead the company's largest non-headquarter site. Her direct P&L represented $2B of Nashville's $5B footprint. She joined the family business at Western Express, where she and Executive and minority owner, responsible for sales, operations, recruiting, and logistics. (~$1.1B).
Come to hear:
Technology to Transportation-solving problems for customers
Crisis Management vs Running a Functioning Business
Telling your story and controlling the narrative
About the speaker: Crissy Wieck
Crissy Wieck was born and raised in Nashville and graduated from The Harpeth Hall School. After working at Dell for 12 years, Crissy joined her family business after the death of her father’s business partner. Crissy has spent 13 years at Western Express and is currently the Chief Sales Officer and a minority owner. In this capacity, Crissy is responsible for Sales and Operations (~$1.1B) and is a member of the Executive Team. Crissy is married to Matt Wiltshire and has three daughters, a son and two stepchildren.
Crissy left Nashville to attend Maryville College, where she was a 4-year starter on the soccer team. A double major in Business and History, Crissy earned the JD Davis award for the Outstanding Student Athlete in her graduating class. After graduating in May of 2000, she headed to Dell. The company opened an office in Nashville the month before she graduated and committed to the city to grow local talent organically. By 2009, Crissy was the General Manager and Global Site Lead for Dell Nashville and the Regional Sales Director for the East Coast. Three buildings, 2,500 employees and a $5B footprint in Nashville allowed her to be the CEO of the largest non-headquarter site for Dell. Her direct P&L represented $2B of the $5B in Nashville. This was a perfect training ground for the unexpected career change in 2012 when she joined her family business.
Western Express is a top 10 Truckload Carrier in the country with over 3,600 trucks operating in the US and Mexico. The company has been in business since 1991 and was started by Crissy’s grandfather (minority owner) and another family, with only 5 trucks. Her father joined the company in 1996, when they had 36 trucks. In the 10 years that followed, the company grew to 3000 trucks. Today the company has 4,500 drivers and ~800 non-driving associates across 6 locations in the United States.
Crissy has served on several boards including The Adventure Science Center, Nashville Public Television, The Maryville College Alumni Board, The Bank of Nashville, The Banner Advisory Board and The Harpeth Hall School. Crissy’s passions include her husband, watching her children do what they love, organizations that work and advocate for equality for women and minorities, and being a trucker.