Meet a powerhouse of excellence and enthusiasm, Ron Cruse, the Founder, and CEO of Logenix International. He is one of the entrants in the race, who with his tremendous skill set and sharp mindset will promptly establish the pace. Ron’s analysis of every world crisis is to the T. His demonstrated acumen about world crises blended with his ability to crunch successful business numbers makes him extraordinary in his field of work.
With three decades of experience and wisdom, Ron Cruse has established his brainchild- Logenix to be a one-of-its-kind company.
The Journey from a Full-time Employee to Full-Fledged Founder
Ron Cruse graduated from Villanova University with a Liberal Arts degree. He then moved to New York City and found a job in the international shipping industry. With hard work and consistent performance, he achieved early success leading to a series of promotions and a transfer to Los Angeles to run the company’s two largest commercial programs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
As the company would experience financial difficulties, he was transferred to Washington DC during that time. The financial difficulties worsened and when Ron Cruse was twenty-nine, he laid the foundation of his international logistics company. He had found a niche in the developing world that was unploughed and quickly became a preeminent provider of international transport into Africa and the rest of the developing world.
In 1991, Ron Cruse’s company, Matrix International, would rank #81 in INC Magazines’ fastest-growing privately held companies. Then the Soviet Union fell. Within weeks he had found a reliable partner and set up the very first Russian-American joint venture. This JV would eventually wind up in the middle of every major program directed to help the New Republics. The company handled the largest humanitarian program since WWII, modernized the remaining Chernobyl RBMK reactors, and was a critical component in the Nunn-Lugar national security level weapons disarmament program.
Matrix became immersed in dealing with every ‘secret city’ in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and under constant KBG scrutiny. The venture into the FSU propelled the company to almost 100 million in revenue and it was sold in 1996 for total consideration of 40 million USD. Ron Cruse retired after the sale, and typical of many acquisitions, the new owner ran the company into the ground. However, after the 9-11 attacks, Ron sensed a whole new world order. This ‘aha’ moment would be later documented by Forbes Magazine in an article in 2012. He hired back the ‘best and brightest’ of his former staff and founded his current company, Logenix International.
Promptly, Logenix became immersed in both the Iraq and Afghan conflicts and would be a critical provider for the reconstruction efforts in both countries. The establishment in Iraq and the critical services it was providing led to a Forbes Magazine Entrepreneur feature article in 2003. Within seven years it became apparent to Ron Cruse the markets in both Iraq and Afghanistan would not evolve as hoped. He felt both would eventually collapse and it may be his most provident ‘entrepreneurial’ sense.
In 2008, Ron Cruse realized Logenix had to pivot back to its wider developing world roots and that the growing need for medicines and medical supplies could be key. Following his realization, he made a trip to India, the world’s leading producer of generic medicines, in 2008, and from that genesis, today Logenix handles more medicines and medical supplies across the developing world than any provider in its industry.
More about Logenix
Founded in 2001, Logenix is a specialist in operating complex supply chains for the most challenging counties and regions of the world. It provides specialized transportation services to and throughout over 140 developing countries from over 35 origins on five continents. Today, it has almost 200 full-time employees across its 19 offices across 10 countries with revenues of 130 million USD in 2022 and another 100 contract employees across approximately 60 countries.
Being an industry leader, it has assisted to bring medicines, electricity, clean water, and agricultural products to hundreds of millions across the developing world—including the most strife-ridden countries like South Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
So, Logenix has had two lives already and it was the recognition early on in 2008 that enabled the pivot. The company has been recognized four times by INC Magazine as among the top 5000 fastest-growing private companies.
Lastly, Ron Cruse has traveled in almost 90 countries over the past 35 years. He has published a book, Lies Bribes & Peril, that is a guidebook to understanding culture around the globe and how critical this knowledge is to success. The book has received excellent reviews from major book reviewers and is in its second edition.
Debugging the Entrepreneur Code
When Ron Cruse was younger he never actually perceived himself as an entrepreneur although he would discover that he had all the traits generally associated with entrepreneurs. Ron wisely states, “I also don’t see what I do as a ‘responsibility’ per se, I see it as a necessary ingredient in creating and evolving a successful company“.
Regardless of the industry or discipline, it’s critical to be able to ‘see’ what the market needs, ‘how’ to make that need, or solution, recognized by clients, and to drive the internal solution/product excellence attainment. Then, the continual watch for market evolution and competition that always occurs, and to make ‘sure’ one is out ahead of it. These are the strategy elements, in Ron Cruse’s opinion, if one describes this strategizing as ‘responsibility’.
Spearheading through the Initial Challenges
The initial challenge for Logenix was the complete market upheaval of the post 9-11 international transport world. Ron Cruse had seen a similar upheaval after the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing in 1989, but the 9-11 market upheaval was exponentially greater and, as it has been seen, with profound effect across almost everything associated with its lives. Once Logenix became intricately involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, the incredible danger and security costs it faced in both countries presented Ron his most worrisome years of running a company.
Major Breakthroughs
Ron Cruse believes two critical junctures triggered the growth of Logenix. There was the initial growth that was almost immediate that propelled the company to 20 million USD in revenues by 2004. At that point, it was felt that both Iraq and Afghanistan would eventually evolve into vibrant markets and he planned to be out in front of that market evolution for both countries.
By 2008, Ron Cruse had become ‘sure’ neither market would develop—and he ‘knew’ it was time to twist the plot and upgrade with his A-game. By 2010, Logenix attained the first of many public health contracts that would over the next 12 years propel them to a major presence in India, 19 offices, and 130 Million in total revenues.
Incorporating a Comprehensive and Power-Packed Work Culture
Logenix staff are given great levels of responsibility that match their training and experience. Its employees are expected to be top-notch problem solvers, encouraged to be collaborative, and to seek input as regards the key decisions they make daily. The age-old axiom, ‘two heads are better than one’, is an important part of its corporate culture. In addition to the responsibility bestowed upon the staff, they are also given the authority to implement those decisions and contribute as key members to the overall success of the organization.
As the company deals with counties all over the world, and there is no substitution for seeing and experiencing, it spends hundreds of thousands on global travel for staff annually. Lastly, the company provides its staff with state-of-the-art technology resources to help them execute their taskings. All of these aspects combine to help its employees to be the most productive in their industry. Further to all of this, a culture that allows each employee to blend their work and personal lives, robust employee recognition, a success sharing outlook, and top-notch HR services surrounding health and retirement planning.
The Cornerstone of Logenix’s Success
Ron Cruse fondly states that Logenix’s success is an amalgamation of many accomplishments and experiences. He has built his company with a strong foundation and decades of rich knowledge. However, Logenix’s company culture is what he believes is the critical ingredient. Once a strong corporate culture is established with a shared sense of purpose and respect, then success follows.
There are two quotes Ron Cruse has posted in the office that he believes are foundational to good corporate culture. The first is attributed to Aristotle, “We are what we continually do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit”. The second is attributed to John D. Rockefeller Jr, “The key to success is to do the common thing, uncommonly well”.
An Exceptional Service Provider
No other company in the industry focuses their delivery of services specifically on the developing world. It’s a very broad, difficult, and constantly changing environment that requires Logenix’s staff to have the most latest knowledge of the often capricious government bureaucracies, and the regional stability, or lack thereof, across over 140 countries. Unlike its competitors, the company keeps track of and assimilates all of the transport means to and within these roughly 140 countries from over another 50 or so worldwide supplier origins across the US, Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, and India.
The amount of data and information is tremendous. This requires that in addition to operating a global transport operation, Logenix must operate a parallel intelligence-gathering operation and quickly integrate and communicate that intel across its global offices. The intel ages quickly so the sourcing, attainment, and dispersal of intel have to be a core part of Logenix’s culture. Ron Cruse adds, “No other company in our industry operates as successfully across the developing world as we do and it is attributable to both the vast global logistics knowledge our staff must keep up with and the up-to-the-minute guidance the intel-gathering operation affords.”
Logenix’s services are catered to overcoming the tremendous bureaucracies throughout the developing world to bring life-saving medicines and critical supplies to those in desperate need. Without the company’s skills and expertise, it believes tens of millions of dollars of medicines and supplies would be wasted or lost annually.
Takeaway for Budding Entrepreneurs
Ron Cruse’s words of advice state, “The market in every industry or discipline is constantly evolving. Watch for what needs, services or products are or will be needed—and move, and move fast. Founding a company is never a straight line, your failures may initially outnumber your successes but they are critical to understanding the market and ‘how’ to evolve your adventure. Be a good problem solver and never, ever, fall victim to believing your own ‘BS’.”
The Next Big Move
India is the key to Logenix’s future growth. India is the world’s fastest growing developed economy and it is expected to be the third largest economy in GDP terms, behind the USA and China, by 2027. The pandemic brought visibility to tremendous shortcomings in the global supply chain, and one of the most glaring shortcomings was China and its dominance as a manufacturing and supply origin. Evolutionary changes are currently taking place across the globe to address the ‘China’ problem.
Industries and manufacturing entities are either planning to or are, migrating out of China for more hospitable locations. India is one of the countries that will realize huge growth opportunities over the next ten to twenty years, and Logenix is positioning itself to expand alongside.
