Optym, the parent company of Axele, LLC, a Transportation Management System (TMS) company, has added experienced executives to the Axele sales and marketing teams to position the company for further growth and expansion. The teams will be responsible for serving core customers, acquiring new clients, building the Axele brand, and growing the Axele TMS footprint in North America. 

“The new team consists of the brightest talents with a deep and broad understanding of the transportation management and technology industries,” said Shaman Ahuja, leader of Axele. “Our new team is more customer-centric focused on deepening relationships with existing clients and bringing new customers to adopt the benefits of the Axele TMS.”

Craig Balzer joins as senior vice president of sales. He will be responsible for developing and building customer relationships at the senior level (typical C-level or direct ownership), resulting in customer closures and seeing the field for potential deeper business revenue expansion opportunities. He will also prepare and present the engineered value proposition for Managed Transportation Services through a solution sales approach to transportation challenges. Craig will use a consultative sales approach with a structured and proven sales methodology and an ability to leverage internal stakeholders to move prospects through highly matrixed buy cycles efficiently. Craig joins Axele from WolfePak Software, where he was VP of sales and business development. Craig also had stints as a national account manager at Kenmore, Craftsman and Diehard; RR Donnelley; and Mega Brands. He graduated with a Bachelor of Professional Studies, in Business, from Roosevelt University. 

Jay Stone joins as senior director of sales, where he will be helping to build and direct a team of sales professionals to drive the growth for Axele TMS. He will also be working to deepen relationships with integration partners to help them understand the value that Axele TMS brings to mutual clients. He will also use his 25 years of transportation and technology experience to help shape future product development to the benefit of Axele Customers. Previously, Jay worked for Dossier Systems, a fleet maintenance software and technologies leader, as the Southeastern regional sales manager. He also worked in sales and new business development for Spireon and McLeod Software. Jay graduated from Auburn University with a BS in Transportation and Logistics. 

Nicole Cochrane joins as director of marketing. She will oversee all internal and external communications, assist with demand gen, manage organic social media accounts, coordinate and execute virtual and in-person events, and oversee content marketing efforts. Previously, Nicole was director of marketing at Roadrunner. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Psychology from the University of Arizona.

Brandon Cade joins Axele as the director of demand generation. He will manage email marketing and marketing automation tools, manage all paid media programs, direct the SEO strategy, assist with content marketing efforts, manage the business development team, and coordinate with internal design teams. Previously, Brandon was the marketing director at Allegiance Trucks and marketing manager at Summit Truck Group. He graduated from West Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Media & Communications.