FreightWaves Market Experts
We’ve brought together a best-in-class team to create our FreightWaves Market Experts Team. Designed to provide SONAR users with dedicated access to some of the best subject matter experts in the freight industry, our Market Experts study freight trends, impacts, movement and data, and provide market insights and strategies exclusively for SONAR and Passport users.
Each team member represents a unique set of industry expertise. Collectively, they help to craft a complete picture of what’s happening in and around the freight markets through a multi-lens approach. Combining their deep tribal knowledge and industry experience with data and insights from SONAR, they’re able to deliver valuable and near-time market insights like only FreightWaves can.
The FreightWaves Market Expert Team:
- Publishes daily and monthly commentary, conducts webinars and speaks at key freight industry events.
- Accessible via a SONAR subscribers-only live message (Slack) channel, email and Twitter and can handle any freight market question you can ask.
- Provided at no extra cost to SONAR users and are here to give you a distinct advantage in the market.
Our FreightWaves Daily Watch is a daily briefing email that’s distributed exclusively to licensed SONAR users. Think of it as your SONAR playbook for the day. It’s designed to provide quick-read insights from our Market Experts into what happened in the global economy overnight, what’s happening in the freight market today, and what you need to watch over the next 24 hours. In addition to highlighting what’s happening in the freights markets for that day, our Market Experts share recommended strategies on how this information can be used to your advantage. The Daily Watch playbook email is released 5 days a week at 9:00AM ET.
Meet the Experts
Michael Baudendistel
Market Expert, Rail Intermodal; Research Analyst; Community Leader – The Stockout (CPG)
Rail/Intermodal • Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) • Rail Equipment Manufacturing and Leasing • Truck Equipment and Components
Mike Baudendistel is an analyst and Market Expert at FreightWaves focusing on the railroad, intermodal and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Baudendistel served as a senior sell-side equity research analyst covering the publicly traded railroads, suppliers that manufacture and lease railroad equipment, and suppliers that manufacture trucks, trailers, engines and other components. He has 16 years of experience following the freight transportation industry with experience that also touched the truckload, Jones Act barge and domestic logistics industries. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Zach Strickland
Head of Freight Market Intelligence
Full Truckload • LTL • Market Analytics • Forecasting • Truckload Contract and Spot Rates • Capacity Utilization
Zach Strickland, the “Sultan of SONAR,” curates the weekly market update. With a degree in Finance, Strickland spent the early part of his career in banking before transitioning to transportation in various roles and segments, such as truckload and LTL. He has over 13 years of transportation experience, specializing in data, pricing, and analytics.
Kirk Purcell
Head of Logistics Service Provider (LSP) Solutions
TMS & BI Data Integrations • SONAR API solutions • Decision modeling • Reducing market reaction time
Kirk Purcell is the Head of LSP Solutions at SONAR, specializing in TMS & BI tool data integrations, direct API data access support, and customized market intelligence solutions. He supports all aspects of the SONAR customer experience to ensure the highest value delivery, and brings 7+ years of SONAR best practices across a diversion customer base. Kirk has 15+ years of truckload industry experience supporting operational and financial performance activities, including product development. His earlier career included data analytics roles in the banking and petroleum industries. He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Ben Peterson
Head of Supply Chain Solutions
Ben Peterson leads supply chain solutions initiatives at SONAR, helping organizations navigate freight market volatility through real-time data, market intelligence, and analytics-driven decision support. With a background in transportation procurement, logistics strategy, and supply chain operations within large retail and consumer goods networks, Ben brings firsthand industry experience to customer engagements and solution development. Today, he works closely with customers to develop data-driven strategies around procurement, benchmarking, carrier management, and network optimization while helping shape solutions tailored to evolving supply chain needs.