Salt Lake City, UT – Unishippers Global Logistics LLC, the nation’s first and one of the largest shipping resellers, recently announced two key executive level promotions, naming Alan Humpherys as the new Vice President of Technology and Alison Smith as Senior Director, Franchise Operations. Both promotions help better position the franchise company for continued growth in the wake of the creation of Unishippers sister company, Launch Logistics LLC, a development that will double the size of the company’s workforce in Salt Lake City.
Alan Humpherys started with the company over 10 years ago as the Director of Technology, a title he has held until this promotion. As Vice President, Alan will continue to oversee technological innovation at Unishippers with a focus on customer facing and franchise office tools. His initial goals as Vice President include enabling growth of the Unishippers systems, lowering transaction costs and increasing franchisee productivity while continuing to offer competitive technology solutions in the market.
“As Vice President, I can really focus on the bigger picture needs of the company and its franchises. We’ve always been innovative and forward-thinking and my goals are to continue to develop in the areas that need it most, including customer facing technology and internal tools for the franchise offices,” said Alan Humpherys. “I’m confident our new initiatives will help Unishippers continue to grow and stay competitive in the logistics sector.”
Prior to joining Unishippers, Alan was VP of Engineering at FutureSmart Networks and Director of Engineering at Citrix Systems and Novell. Alan started his career as a computer chip designer at Amdahl Corporation and earned a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Alison Smith, who has been with the company since 2001, received the second executive promotion announced by the company. Already managing a team of 15 in four different departments including marketing, franchise development, franchise relations and support and products, in her new role, Alison will take on greater responsibility related to the overall operations of the franchisor and the day-to-day support of franchisees.
“The biggest thrill of my job has been seeing franchisees become successful,” said Alison. “This is an exciting time at Unishippers, and in my new role I am looking forward to putting our long term initiatives that support franchise performance improvements into practice, whether that be in marketing, products or franchisee support services.”
Unishippers was created in 1987 from the simple idea that by partnering with major shipping suppliers and reselling their services, small and medium-sized business could benefit from the negotiated discounts and increased level of customer service. Today, the company employs 59 employees in the logistics sector in Utah with a total of 800 employees nationwide. The company recently launched a new subsidiary, Launch Logistics, which is intended to rapidly expand the company’s salesforce and customer service expertise and operates alongside its accelerating franchise network, prompting further growth and hands-on learning that will benefit the entire franchise system.
“Every day I’m delighted by the talent that we have on our executive team at Unishippers. Alan and Alison have shown through their actions that they are dedicated to the company, the franchisees, our customers and our carrier partners. Their promotions support the aggressive growth initiatives that the company has in place,” said Unishippers President Kevin Lathrop.
About Unishippers
Founded in 1987, Unishippers has grown to the largest reseller of shipping services in the nation with more than 290 franchise locations. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, the Unishippers concept is simple – work with major carriers including UPS®, Saia®, Estes®, YRC Freight™ and UPS Freight® to handle the pickup, transport and delivery of customers’ shipments. All the while, local franchisees work to provide customers with service and support. By leveraging the combined shipping volume of all its customers, Unishippers gets deeply discounted rates from its carriers, resulting in lower shipping costs. Unishippers serves more than 50,000 small to mid-sized businesses, and has been recognized as a top freight broker by Transport Topics and a top franchise by Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and the Inc. 5000. For information on Unishippers, including information on franchising opportunities and price quotes, visit www.unishippers.com.
Alan Humpherys started with the company over 10 years ago as the Director of Technology, a title he has held until this promotion. As Vice President, Alan will continue to oversee technological innovation at Unishippers with a focus on customer facing and franchise office tools. His initial goals as Vice President include enabling growth of the Unishippers systems, lowering transaction costs and increasing franchisee productivity while continuing to offer competitive technology solutions in the market.
“As Vice President, I can really focus on the bigger picture needs of the company and its franchises. We’ve always been innovative and forward-thinking and my goals are to continue to develop in the areas that need it most, including customer facing technology and internal tools for the franchise offices,” said Alan Humpherys. “I’m confident our new initiatives will help Unishippers continue to grow and stay competitive in the logistics sector.”
Prior to joining Unishippers, Alan was VP of Engineering at FutureSmart Networks and Director of Engineering at Citrix Systems and Novell. Alan started his career as a computer chip designer at Amdahl Corporation and earned a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University.
Alison Smith, who has been with the company since 2001, received the second executive promotion announced by the company. Already managing a team of 15 in four different departments including marketing, franchise development, franchise relations and support and products, in her new role, Alison will take on greater responsibility related to the overall operations of the franchisor and the day-to-day support of franchisees.
“The biggest thrill of my job has been seeing franchisees become successful,” said Alison. “This is an exciting time at Unishippers, and in my new role I am looking forward to putting our long term initiatives that support franchise performance improvements into practice, whether that be in marketing, products or franchisee support services.”
Unishippers was created in 1987 from the simple idea that by partnering with major shipping suppliers and reselling their services, small and medium-sized business could benefit from the negotiated discounts and increased level of customer service. Today, the company employs 59 employees in the logistics sector in Utah with a total of 800 employees nationwide. The company recently launched a new subsidiary, Launch Logistics, which is intended to rapidly expand the company’s salesforce and customer service expertise and operates alongside its accelerating franchise network, prompting further growth and hands-on learning that will benefit the entire franchise system.
“Every day I’m delighted by the talent that we have on our executive team at Unishippers. Alan and Alison have shown through their actions that they are dedicated to the company, the franchisees, our customers and our carrier partners. Their promotions support the aggressive growth initiatives that the company has in place,” said Unishippers President Kevin Lathrop.
About Unishippers
Founded in 1987, Unishippers has grown to the largest reseller of shipping services in the nation with more than 290 franchise locations. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, the Unishippers concept is simple – work with major carriers including UPS®, Saia®, Estes®, YRC Freight™ and UPS Freight® to handle the pickup, transport and delivery of customers’ shipments. All the while, local franchisees work to provide customers with service and support. By leveraging the combined shipping volume of all its customers, Unishippers gets deeply discounted rates from its carriers, resulting in lower shipping costs. Unishippers serves more than 50,000 small to mid-sized businesses, and has been recognized as a top freight broker by Transport Topics and a top franchise by Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and the Inc. 5000. For information on Unishippers, including information on franchising opportunities and price quotes, visit www.unishippers.com.
