CarrierDirect announced Monday it has changed its name to Metafora, Greek for transportation, as the company continues expanding its full-service consulting and technology development offerings.
“When I joined, we were the best kept secret in transportation — having done incredible work with some of the biggest companies and being behind some of the most innovative work in the space,” Ryan Schreiber, vice president of industry and growth, told FreightWaves. “This change comes at a time when we’ve really passed an inflection point, and scale, that allows us to serve our industry even better and represents our continued commitment to go even deeper in serving transportation providers, shippers and FreightTech companies in building the future of the space.”
Founded in 2011 by project44 CEO Jett McCandless and Worldwide Express COO Joel Clum, CarrierDirect’s original focus was outsourcing sales for trucking companies. In 2015, Clum joined Worldwide Express, McCandless left to focus on project44 and the firm brought in former Accenture consultant Peter Rentschler as CEO.
As the company grew, Rentschler and his team stretched CarrierDirect’s offerings deeper into enterprise transformation and tech development, including proprietary software products. The name CarrierDirect no longer reflected the company’s capabilities.
Along with the Metafora rebrand, the firm announced it has hired John “JT” Engstrom as its vice president of strategy.
“JT is a perfect fit for our business. His experience with Oliver Wyman as an industry consultant, Stifel as a research analyst and investment banker, FreightWaves on tech go-to-market strategies and Takkion overseeing M&A is the right complement to what we do and where we’re going,” Rentschler said.
Engstrom, who has been involved with the consulting firm for years, told FreightWaves he is excited to join the team full time and help guide it through its transformation.
“The rebranding of CarrierDirect to Metafora is indicative of the successful evolution the business has undergone over the past few years and reflects the transition into the next stage of investment in growth. Metafora will continue to enhance the value proposition provided to the industry to support the next evolution of the space,” Engstrom said.
According to Rentschler, the consulting firm’s focus on its values — go the extra mile, do the right thing, speak your truth, stay hungry and curious, and be cool, no ego — has impacted the company’s ability to extend its offerings and bring in top talent from companies like Deloitte, IBM, Uber Freight, Echo, Sapient and NASA.
“Over the past three years, we have fundamentally changed our company culture, values and offerings while bringing in diverse, world-class talent. We decided this rebrand was right for us now because we knew people tended to think of us based on what our business did when they met us or based on what service they hired us for. We’re so much more now and wanted our name and brand to represent that. In addition to expanding our offerings to solve the challenges our clients face, we also drove cultural revolution,” said Rentschler.
These changes have not just included the company values but company perks as well, including unlimited paid time off, paid parental leave, increased health care plan contributions and a 401(k) matching program. In addition, the extended leadership team is made up of 30% women.
“We moved to a values-driven culture, which has been the single most impactful change we’ve made at our business. The new name signifies a new chapter for us, but we remain true to our company values as we continue to evolve,” said Rentschler.
During the pandemic, the company has grown from 29 team members to more than 100, with employees on four continents leveraging a best shore delivery model. In 2021 revenue was up 89.6% over 2020, with Metafora expecting another 68% growth in 2022, according to Rentschler.
The growth has enabled expanded service offerings and capabilities for companies like FedEx, Werner Enterprises, AbbVie Pharmaceutical, J.B. Hunt, Knight-Swift, Corteva Agriscience, Transportation Insight, Nolan Transportation Group, Redwood Logistics, GE Transportation and Covenant Logistics Group.
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