At AMTR, human knowledge plays a central role in our business model and defines our competitive advantage. As such, efforts to improve and challenge our minds are a key focus and always a strategic consideration. Recently, we added four employees to the ranks of Mensa, bringing the company total to five! Mensa describes itself as the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. AMTR is proud to announce its Mensa members:
Standing: Summer Bartczak (CEO), Devin Scott (Truck Auditor), Trey Clapsaddle (Truck Auditor)
Seated: Monika Bailey (Rail Auditor), Kelly Kirkpatrick (Assistant Truck Audits Manager)
This is just another reason to partner with AMTR. When we say we are the “Home of SMART Auditing®,” we are not kidding!
On November 19, AMTR lost our beloved leader and CEO, Shan Scott, to neuroendocrine cancer. He fought the illness like he ran the business—with all his heart. He came to work until he could not any longer; this company was his second home, and we were all his extended family.
Shan’s first job out of college was working alongside his father, Ed Scott, and his uncle, Mike Lasiter, the founders of AMTR. Over the years, he performed every job in the company and became an expert truck and rail auditor, as well as a nationally-recognized transportation guru. In 2013, he assumed the position of CEO and springboarded AMTR into a period of innovation and growth that is still ongoing today.
Despite our great loss, AMTR is prepared to “drive on” as Shan would want. For years, there has been a joke at the company related to the phrase “WWSD” (i.e. What Would Shan Do)? Instead of answering questions for us, he worked hard to teach us to think for ourselves, to sort out complex problems, to take care of our clients, and to become the most knowledgeable transportation experts in the business. Upon reflection, he taught us well and prepared us perfectly to move forward.
Shan’s sister, Summer (Scott) Bartczak, PhD, will take over the reins of AMTR as Acting CEO. Besides being a 20+ year Air Force veteran and college professor, Summer has worked closely with Shan and the AMTR leadership in various capacities since 2013, and as such, is no stranger to the business. Although Shan will be sorely missed, the outstanding team he built at AMTR is well-prepared to lead the company into the future as the nation’s premier after-payment freight audit and transportation knowledge services company.
AMTR employees recently participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. As two employees are breast cancer survivors, the cause hits close to home. It was a meaningful and fun day for all!
Earlier this month, AMTR held a surprise dinner event for our company’s Founding Fathers—Ed Scott, Mike Lasiter and Shan Scott. A large crowd of employees, their families and the Founders’ family and friends gathered for the celebratory occasion. According to Monica Poyner, Senior Rail Auditor and 20-year employee, “It is hard to express what these guys mean to us. We felt the need to say thanks in a big way. We want them and everyone else to know how important they are to us.”
The evening consisted of dinner, dancing and numerous personal tributes to the leaders. Tamara Henry, Audit Support Staff member, stated, “Working for AMTR has changed my life for the better. I have never worked for such good, caring people.” John Ladd, Senior Truck Auditor, offered, “These men are truly a blessing to me and so many other people that have come across their paths.” Monika Williams, Rail Auditor, said, “I‘m incredibly grateful that I was provided the opportunity to work here and succeed to my fullest potential…they believed in me from the beginning.”
In reflecting on the event, family member (and AMTR Chief Education & Innovation Officer), Summer Bartczak, stated, “I know these men, personally, of course. It is not enough to say that they were stunned at the recognition and humbled beyond words. And, although the night was clearly focused on them, the caring character of the employees was also evident in all the planning and effort they put forth on the event.”
AMTR was founded by Ed and Mike in 1979 and became a true functioning entity in 1981. Mike still serves as company President, and Ed as Chairman of the Board. Shan Scott, son of Ed Scott and 30+ year company employee, has been serving as CEO since 2013. These men brought AMTR out of a basement, transitioned it through the challenges of de-regulation and digitization, and built it into the nation’s premier provider of expert-based after-payment freight audit services. Although the evening was an opportunity to look back at what AMTR has become under their thoughtful leadership, it also served as a reminder of the core values that lie at the heart of the company and will continue to guide it going forward.
As we travel the country meeting potential clients, we are often asked about our compensation model. While many of our competitors base their compensation on leveraged potential future savings, our compensation deals exclusively with freight dollars that have already been spent. Our fees are based solely on actual recoveries we collect on a client’s behalf, making our service free of any upfront costs.
At AMTR, it is plain and simple—we discover overcharges, we file claims on clients’ behalf and return a large portion of the recoveries to them. Ask any of our clients how nice it is to receive a check in the mail refunding monies they thought were forever spent. It may be July, but that always feels like Christmas!
Our SMART audit team has the transportation knowledge and expertise to understand the billing pitfalls of the freight industry, and can even help companies that use the most advanced transportation management systems and largest payment firms. The dollars we recover go right back to our clients’ bottom line as profit, so our service has the same impact as securing a new, high-dollar client that costs nothing to procure or support!
If you are interested in a no-nonsense audit of your freight costs, contact us. At AMTR, our service never costs, it only pays! It is truly a NO risk, HIGH reward proposition for our business partners.
On Thursday, April 7th, AMTR was pleased to announce its scholarship recipients at the University of Central Arkansas’ College of Business awards. Ms. Karen Valentino received the Management Information Systems scholarship and Mr. Jesus Chavez, the Supply Chain Management scholarship. Congratulations to these
deserving winners!
There is no doubt that technology has improved our personal and professional lives in many ways. According to Sydney Finkelstein of BBC, “We live in a world of curation. The internet—aided by algorithms that predict what we search, buy, listen to, read, watch and even who we want to date and marry—expertly helps [us to] find what we want.” We humans enjoy this, as our interests, opinions and thoughts are continually reinforced. However, the dark side is that we do not realize how these algorithms, formed from previous searches and actions, are bounding our thinking and exposure to new ideas. A similar idea was highlighted in a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled “Beware the Confirmation Trap When Analyzing Data,” which stated, “…we’re likely to pay more attention to findings that align with our beliefs and to ignore other facts and patterns in the data.”
When these ideas are applied to freight audits, it becomes clear that they should not be accomplished in a silo. No single rate engine, publication or algorithm can always accurately determine the correct charges to be billed to a shipper. That is what Smart Auditing© is all about—combining leading-edge technological tools and, most importantly, the creative minds of human, expert auditors who are not trapped by algorithms or even the common patterns of thinking that can evolve in organizations.
Start the year off “Smart” by letting AMTR help you avoid confirmation traps and the consequences of bounded thinking. Fresh minds and a new look at your freight costs mean greater refund savings for you!
AMTR is excited to announce that one of our own, Kelly Kirkpatrick, has been awarded a top-level Southwest Association of Rail Shippers (SWARS) 2016 George J. Elking, Jr. Scholarship. Kelly has worked at AMTR for nine years and currently serves as the Assistant Manager of the Truck Audits Team.
If being a member of Mensa wasn’t enough, Kelly takes her education very seriously. She is currently pursuing a Bachelors in Business Management and regularly carries a full academic load as well working full-time. Kelly’s intelligence shines through in many ways but especially in her work as a freight cost auditor as she has been a top producer in our company year after year. Kelly’s academic pursuits embody our company core value of “seek knowledge always” – we are so proud of her. Congratulations Kelly!
Most knowledgeable & hands-on for clients
For as long as AMTR has been in existence, our business model has put human, transportation experts at the center of our freight auditing services. Our team of auditors are arguably the most knowledgeable in the industry; each and every one having successfully passed a rigorous apprentice and training program as well as completed required certifications in transportation law, motor carrier operations, etc. Does this mean that AMTR only uses brainpower and not technology to accomplish audits? Absolutely not! We have a robust technology architecture which we call “Smart Tech” and time-tested data mining and overcharge discovery processes we call “Smart Net” that support our auditors in their work, but human auditors are always in the lead. At AMTR we use technology to augment our human experts not to replace them. As such, every client account gets human attention that results on a much more hands-on audit and a closer customer service relationship. Where automated freight audits based on pre-programmed algorithms can only identify the most standard errors, our human auditors get to know our clients and their freight operations on a deeper level which allows more extensive and higher-dollar overcharge recovery. When thinking about freight cost audits for your company get “Smart” and let the experts at AMTR work on your behalf!
