As the newest member of the SalSon team, Janine Brower is no stranger to the company's culture of excellence, reliability, and success. A transplanted New Yorker with extensive experience in the Southern U.S. transportation market, Brower recently took the helm at SalSon's Savannah Terminal, which is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion that will substantially increase the company's presence in the area.
Prior to joining SalSon, Brower was the Terminal Manager for a California-based transportation company in their Savannah location, and also served as General Manager for Diamond in Hilton Head South Carolina. Brower's impressive 25-year career in the transportation industry spans a variety of roles and responsibilities, earning her a unique depth and breadth of experience that she now brings to SalSon Savannah.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Brower got her start on Wall Street, working in the financial industry at top brokerage houses. When market uncertainties in the 1990's led to an increasingly stressful business climate, Brower felt the pull to make a career change. "After the market crashed, I started to feel burnt out," she says, "I needed to get out of the corporate confines for awhile and try something completely different."
Undeterred by the challenge of entering another traditionally male-oriented field, Brower took to the open road as a truck driver, obtaining her CDL and doing long-distance hauls for Cedar Rapids-based Westside Transport to their terminal in Houston. After six years as an owner-operator, she chose to return to her business management roots, and joined JB Hunt. Starting out as a Dispatcher and working her way up to Account Manager, Brower continued gathering valuable insight into the many aspects of the transportation industry. Her previous experience as a driver earned her the respect of the owner-operators she managed. "I'd been on their side of the table," she says, "so they knew I wasn't just dictating what they should be doing--I fully understood the challenges they were facing every day."
Seeking to expand her knowledge base even further, she became Logistics and Transportation Manager for Novelty Transportation, a freight shipping and trucking company in Greenfield, Indiana. Brower oversaw the company's domestic operations, which included more than 200 warehouses, and a fleet of over 200 trucks. The move allowed her to gain additional experience in analytics, purchasing, forecasting, production, inventory control, and a number of other key aspects of the business. "I've been actively engaged in every facet of supply chain management at this point," says Brower, "and having that perspective is essential in building and maintaining strong relationships with all stakeholders."
The allure of a warmer climate eventually drew her back to the South, with steady growth at the Port of Savannah garnering her attention. "The port here has already experienced significant gains," says Brower, "and as soon as they finish dredging the canal, they'll be able to accommodate larger ships, and things will really take off."
SalSon CEO Anthony Berritto shared a similar vision on Savannah's potential, recently devoting additional resources to the company's Savannah location in anticipation of the growing market. "We have our own customized chassis coming in," Brower says, "with 25 new trucks being added to our fleet. We're also expanding our operations to include cross-dock, transloading, additional secured warehouse space--whatever our customers require."
According to Brower, the decision to join SalSon was an easy one: "I was impressed with their customer base, and the high-end clientele that they're doing business with nationwide," she says."SalSon is clearly committed to investing in this location, growing its infrastructure and expanding its operations in Savannah. We're poised for tremendous growth here, and I'm really excited to be a part of that."
