Mike Ward mikeward.dev

Reference page — a fact sheet of my four years at Coyote Logistics, with public-source citations. The full story is on the homepage.

Coyote Logistics

Mike Ward · Enterprise Operations → Software Development Manager · Coyote Logistics, 2012–2016

What did you do at Coyote Logistics?

Coyote hired me as a freight broker in 2012. I taught myself to code after hours, designed a route-optimization program recognized with a 2012 Chicago Innovation Award,[1] moved into product, and by the end of 2014 was Coyote's Software Development Manager — leading a 45-person product & engineering organization through the company's $1.8B acquisition by UPS.[4]

Broker to builder

Coyote — Chicago's technology-first freight brokerage — hired me as a freight broker in 2012. I taught myself to code after hours and designed a multi-shipment route-optimization program serving carriers when direct routes weren't available — work recognized through a 2012 Chicago Innovation Award.[1] After proving the model with our production fleet, Jeff Silver (CEO) moved me into a product role improving Coyote's technology offerings. Our teams shipped Coyote's new customer-dedicated web Transportation Management System (TMS), automated carrier payments and improved route visibility through Coyote's carrier facing mobile App, and delivered machine learning shipment recommendations to optimize carrier routes. Part of this work is preserved in a patent application I co-invented — automated advance payments and dynamic load routing.[2]

By the end of 2014 I moved into the role as Coyote's Software Development Manager, leading a 45-person product & engineering organization — while founding Coyote's first international development teams between Chicago, IL and Pune, India. Our international teams grew to carry the majority of Coyote's codebase.

During my tenure with Coyote — products our teams built — CoyoteGO, the carrier app we launched in 2013,[3] the web freight transportation management system, payments, and tracking systems — supported a $2.1B-revenue business through its $1.8B acquisition by UPS,[4] then the largest acquisition in UPS's 108-year history.[5]

Record

Role arc
Freight broker (2012) → product → Software Development Manager (2014–2016)
Award
2012 Chicago Innovation Award — Coyote Private Fleet route optimization[1]
Patent application
US 2015/0213402 A1, filed 2014 — logistics management systems: automated carrier advance payments and dynamic load routing, co-invented[2]
Organization
45-person product & engineering org; Coyote's first international development teams between Chicago, IL and Pune, India
Products
CoyoteGO (carrier app, launched 2013);[3] customer-dedicated web TMS; automated carrier payments; tracking systems; machine learning shipment recommendations
Outcome
$2.1B revenue reported for 2014; acquired by UPS for $1.8B in 2015[4] — then the largest acquisition in UPS's 108-year history[5]

Sources

  1. Press Chicago Innovation Awards — 2012 Winner, Coyote Private Fleet “Utilizing a network of available freight and proprietary technology, Coyote is able [to] fill these empty legs for the private fleets, thus eliminating empty miles…”
  2. Patent Google Patents — US 2015/0213402 A1, filed 2014 Logistics management systems — automated carrier advance payments and dynamic load routing, co-invented at Coyote.
  3. Product Coyote Logistics — CoyoteGO “We launched CoyoteGO in 2013 as an extension of our digital freight platform to give carriers easy access to our free load board in the palm of their hands.”
  4. SEC-Filed UPS — Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, July 2015 “UPS has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Coyote Logistics… for $1.8 billion… Coyote reported annual revenue of $2.1 billion in 2014.” See also the UPS press release.
  5. Press DC Velocity — July 2015 “The largest in UPS's 108-year history and the biggest pure brokerage deal ever.”

More

Full career record: mikeward.dev · Next role: Senior PM, Payments Platform at Square (2016–2019) · Patents: all five USPTO records