Interview with Jared Starling, CEO, Visible Supply Chain Management
This article is part of a series featuring business executives who choose to live and work in Utah. If you know of an executive we should interview, please contact us.
Determined leader, competitive and tenacious are a few adjectives that best describe Jared Starling. These traits have served him well on and off the court.
Starling played volleyball on the Nike Junior Olympic team and now guides his team at Visible Supply Chain Management, taking on the challenge of revolutionizing an aging supply chain industry in the age of Amazon. The company is the industry leader in shipping, fulfillment and supply chain management.
Among Starling’s list of accolades, he recently received the regional EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 Utah region award for the distribution and manufacturing.
Visible Supply Chain Management is the industry leader in shipping, fulfillment and supply chain management, shipping over 158 million packages every year. The company designs effective strategies for clients that include transportation, logistics, brokerage, fulfillment and custom packaging solutions.
Its proprietary technology allows customers to track every aspect of their supply chain at any time, from warehouse inventory levels to the whereabouts of a customer package, to the exact time an item was packed.
How did you get started in the industry?
My father was in the supply chain management industry, and I always wanted to learn the ins and outs of the industry. After my professional volleyball career and completing my bachelor’s degree, I wanted to continue learning the family business. It was important to me to build upon his legacy.
When I joined the company, I made it a priority to spend time learning and working in every department. From operations to sales to analytics to customer service, I worked in every department.
What are the top two most recent professional accomplishments you are most proud of?
Consolidating from four small businesses to one mid-size business has been a great accomplishment for our team. I was excited to be a pioneer in bringing comprehensive and unique aspects of the supply chain industry — fulfillment, logistics, packaging and parcel – together under one roof.
We were able to accomplish this while still producing 20 percent year-over-year growth, which spoke volumes about our leadership team and their ability to influence the culture throughout the organization.
What drew you to Utah?
I am a proud Utah native, and Utah will always be “home-sweet-home.”
What do you like most about living in Utah?
I believe in staying physically active, so the vast range of outdoor pursuits available in Utah is a huge plus. Utah ranks among the healthiest in the country, and it’s partly because of the outdoor opportunities we have in our backyard.
What do you like most about doing business in Utah?
It’s the people of Utah and the broad range of talent. The work ethic that actively drives business in Utah is incredible, and the high integrity level of business professionals is second-to-none.
What advice do you have for individuals considering starting a business, or relocating their business, to Utah?
One of the most important aspects of starting a business lies in choosing the right people, especially at the executive level. Our company’s executive team has depth and experience across a wide range of functions and industries. I believe our growth and success is rooted in the range of strengths that reside in our executive team.
What is your primary challenge of doing business in Utah?
Having the right people in the proper role as we scale is a constant challenge, and yet people are always the solution, too.
Tell me a fun fact about yourself.
I’m curious by nature. I am always eager to learn and finding out how things work is really interesting to me and gets me out of bed every day.
What is the most important lesson you learned in your career?
The smallest changes can lead to significant improvements in customer experience.
The company’s proprietary technology allows customers to track every aspect of their supply chain from warehouse to the exact time an item was packed.
Connect with him on LinkedIn.