In a little more than 10 years, Emmanuel Carrillo has gone from being night security at a southern California warehouse to CEO and owner of a fast-growing trucking and logistics company. When you talk to him, his energy, enthusiasm and passion for trucking and for relationships abounds.

“Hey everyone! Everyone calls me Manny,” is how he introduces himself on his LinkedIn profile.

This 2024 Emerging Leader began his career as a night dispatcher for Talon Logistics, learning along the way before buying Talon from its founder in 2020. 

Today, Carrillo heads up operations for a company that owns about 40 trucks, contracts with 200-plus dedicated trucks operated by small carriers, operates 11 terminals across the country and about 20 acres of yards. It focuses on drayage/intermodal.

Although Carrillo had family in trucking, and had always liked it, he was working as a night security supervisor at a warehouse in Mira Loma, California, in 2013 when he hired on as a night dispatcher for Talon. At the time, it was a small, family-owned business with about 10 trucks operating out of a small trailer on the warehouse site.

Carrillo quickly moved from dispatcher to compliance, and on to operations, where he learned about building customer relationships. When Talon’s owner was looking to retire, who better to take over the company than the passionate young man he had been mentoring?

A Sustainability Leader

Carrillo’s jump-in-with-both-feet energy resulted in Talon Logistics being among the first companies serving the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports to deploy zero-emission vehicles. 

Today, 20% of the company's fleet in California is battery-electric or hydrogen-fuel-cell electric. Currently they are Nikola Tre electric and FCEV models, and he plans to also buy Volvo VNR Electrics as he expands the number of zero-emissions vehicles in his fleet.

“We got our first EV trucks before there was even infrastructure in place,” Carrillo says, and he paid out of pocket for his own charging station.

“Did I spend a lot of money? Yes. Did I learn a lot? Yes!

“But at least I could say that I learned from my mistakes, and I learned where to pivot.”

He did get help from the state’s Cal Fleet Advisor program and HVIP funding program to help obtain the trucks.

Sharing Lessons With Other Trucking Fleets

Carrillo and his team regularly share what they’ve learned with other carriers transitioning to lower-emission vehicles.

He has spoken at The White House Summit on Clean Trucking, is a regular presenter at industry conferences, and is also one of the youngest board members of the Harbor Trucking Association and LA Transportation Club.

California’s emissions regulations may be frustrating, as is the long path to having charging infrastructure in place, “but I'm trying my best to put my best foot forward and learn,” he says. “I think, as true leaders, you gotta take the leap of faith into the unknown.”

Giving People a Chance

But as exciting as being at the forefront of ZEV trucking is, and as much as he loves what he does, Carrillo says, “that's not even the best part. The best part is giving people a chance.”

“I call our company a bunch of misfits, underdogs,” he says with a laugh. Nearly everyone started with no trucking experience, but he saw potential he was determined to draw out.

“The thing I look for in people is the right character, culturally fitted, they have a good head on their shoulders, they want to do good work, and they want to leave something good and pay it forward.

“Everyone has a different story. Everyone has different pains, different tragedies, and they have their own story to make.”

Carrillo wants to be a small piece of that story they are building.

Carrillo believes in emotional intelligence, encouraging his leadership team to have regular EQ coaching sessions.

What Makes a Good Leader?

Asked what he’s most proud of accomplishing, Carrillo doesn’t point to his sustainability leadership or growing the company. It’s connecting with people, inside his company and out.

Good leaders, he says, “They're the ones trying to [build up] that next person and help them to succeed.

“I want them to grow. I want them to be the best for themselves and best for their family."

And that includes his drivers.

“They're the backbone of our economy, right? I want to change the way people look at drivers. I want them to look at them like, 'These are career jobs.' Because, dude, that's an important piece. They’re moving freight. They move the economy.”

Talon’s drivers earn over six figures between base pay and bonuses. When he implemented bonuses based on KPIs to drivers, he says, “Guess what? Their productivity went up. And they're motivated, because, like, the more you do, the more money you get.”

Partnering with Customers

His clients clearly appreciate Carrillo's people-first approach. Many of the firm's business relationships have been in place for more than a decade. In fact, locking in long-term contracts before the pandemic hit allowed Talon to not only survive but grow during the past few turbulent years.

He earns those long-term relationships by offering service that goes beyond the transactional nature of many trucking contracts.

“You know, you might not be the smartest, you might not have the best tech, but if you can be transparent, communicate, and be the eyes and ears for your customers, and just follow through with that, dude, you can go a long way.

“It's holding their hands, finding out how we could be a value to them, so they could make themselves look good as well.”

For some customers, that includes their sustainability journey. Carrillo not only shares what he's learned with other trucking execs, but also uses it to help his customers.

He educates them about how they can offset higher costs for the ZEVs with rebates, tax incentives, WAIRE credits (California's warehouse-emission program), and more.

Doing Business the Right Way

Carrillo is committed to doing business ethically and fostering genuine partnerships. He rejects the cutthroat mentality often found in the industry and strives to treat people with fairness and respect.

There are a lot of bad apples in the business, he says – bad brokers, bad trucking companies.

“If we could do business right the right way, and treat people like humans, and then make a profit and make a difference, why not do that?" he asks.

“I really want people to understand what partnership means,” he says. To him, it means when your partner is down, you’re going to have their back.

“I'm a type of person, a partnership is like, I'll take my shirt off my back, so I don't have no shirt, and then I'll put it on their back.”

Carrillo wants to become more involved in policy-making to bridge the gap between federal, state, and city regulations, particularly regarding sustainability and emissions regulations.

“I feel like people make these policies, they know a little piece of it, but they don't know what they're doing.

“If I could help be the bridge person, or be one of the many people to help bridge that gap, to make better policies? Hell yeah, I want to do that as me, as a person.”