Freight brokerage expects to employ 200 at Reno site

Schneider Logistics expects to employ as many as 200 people within three years at a freight brokerage operation in Reno.

The company will open a temporary office in the NevDex Business Park in south Reno next week and plans to move into a permanent 16,000-square-foot space in the new NevDex 4 building at Neil Road and South Kietzke Lane in mid-September. The lease was brokered by Scott Borgia of Commercial Partners of Nevada.

The company initially will employ about 25 people in the Reno operation and expects the staff to grow to about 45 by year-end, said Greg Sanders, vice president of transportation management for Schneider Logistics.

Schneider Logistics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider National, a major trucking firm based at Green Bay, Wis.

The center will handle both sides of the freight brokerage business, Sanders said, as employees work with new and existing customers to generate demand and also work with transportation vendors to meet customers' demands.

About two-thirds of the staff, he said, will work on creation of demand; the other third will work with trucking companies and other carriers.

Schneider expects that it will recruit at least 80 percent of the workers it needs for the Reno center from outside the company.

With that in mind, he said the company scouted locations with a good quality of life "People want to live here," Sanders said as well as a pool of potential workers.

Much of the staff for the center's growth, he said, is likely to come from the University of Nevada, Reno.

"It's a gold mine up there with the future professionals we're looking for," Sanders said. "Our business model is built on the young professional young, that is, in mind and spirit. We're looking for high-energy people."

UNR's nationally known program in logistics management provides another plus.

The company's decision supports one of the economic development goals for the region established by the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada's recent Target 2010 program strengthening its position in the advanced logistics industry.

"It definitely fits with the Target 2010 goal," said Jeff Brigger, EDAWN's business development manager.

He said the agency also welcomes Schenider's recruitment of young professionals into the region another goal set by EDAWN.

Schneider Logistics also was drawn to the Reno location by its location as a hub for trucking and distribution in the West.