XPO employs 100,000 hard-working and driven individuals who live our core values every day. Among them are more than 2,000 men and women who served in the armed forces in Europe and the US. In honor of Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, we salute the service and contributions of one of our employee veterans, Abby Hyde:

“Being a veteran at XPO is exciting,” says Abby Hyde, XPO’s senior manager of Veteran Recruiting, who drove 915 tractor-trailers in the Army and parlayed it into a career at XPO. “If you asked my 17-year-old self if she’d be working for one of the largest logistics and transportation companies in the world, I’d probably laugh at you.”

Fast forward 17 years and that’s exactly what Abby is doing. “It’s been fun to convert my skills and knowledge of transportation from the military to the civilian side. I love our LTL business, and I love learning how it operates from the inside.”

This summer, Abby melded her two careers even more closely, taking over veteran recruiting for the company. She works alongside XPO executives to provide support to the company’s other veterans through internal and external programs.

“It’s important to have someone who’s a veteran and who can relate to fellow veterans. Someone who can advocate on their behalf and guide those who aren’t veterans to better understand the value they bring to the civilian workplace.”

Veterans are XPO because the military is logistics

Veterans serve in a wide variety of roles at XPO, ranging from LTL drivers to executive leadership. In fact, 24 of XPO’s senior leaders are veterans, including Erik Caldwell, chief operating officer of XPO’s supply chain business and a former Army Captain, and Dennis McCaffrey, senior vice president of sales and marketing and a former Corporal in the US Marine Corp.

Hyde says the success of veterans like Caldwell, McCaffrey, herself and others at XPO is not a coincidence. Veterans possess specific skillsets that translate seamlessly to the logistics industry.

“The biggest logistics company is the military,” she says.

In the military, she explains, the main goal is moving goods and people from point A to point B without misplacing equipment, damaging property or losing a comrade. The military also shapes veterans by making them collaborative leaders and innovators who adapt to rapid changes.

“It may not seem like it from the outside, but the military is rapidly changing. XPO is constantly evolving too. They’re both changing and innovating, and their people are doing it alongside them. Both the military and XPO move fast,” she says.

Honoring our Veterans

So, what’s Abby’s advice for the best way to honor veterans on Remembrance Day and Veterans Day?

“Thank a veteran. Support them in the workplace. Celebrate them. They signed a blank check to their country; they were ready to lay down their lives for the safety and well-being of others. It’s the ultimate price and sacrifice, and veterans deserve our thanks.”