How did M.A.D. Transportation, Inc. get its name? Like the company itself, it's all about family. The "A" stands for Allen Corona, the founder of the company, while the "M" and "D" stand for his daughter, Mia, and wife, Denise.
The firm was officially founded in 2012 by Allen and began doing truck broker and dispatch work in 2015. Allen first started driving trucks right after high school, working for his father. Now, Allen's dad is a subhauler at his son's company. Again, keeping it all in the family.
The employees at M.A.D. Transportation are their own family. In addition to Allen, there is Michelle Rikard (Controller), Sheryl Baca (Trucking Compliance) and Heather Dalton (Certified Payroll). According to Michelle, everyone at the company works together toward a common goal, taking after the company's founder and president.
"Allen came from humble beginnings and grew his company by treating people fairly," she says. "It says a lot about who he is."
That kind of reputation is important for a growing small business. M.A.D. Transportation worked on Section 1 of the Purple Line Extension for Metro and is working with Frontier-Kemper on a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) project. This previous track record helped them earn their current scope of work on the Section 3 Tunnels project.
Allen's company hauls soil and other materials away from the excavation site. They coordinate with truck owner/operators that make up to four trips per day hauling truckloads of dirt. M.A.D. Transportation's subhaulers are an incredibly vital part of the company and Allen knows he would not be able to do what he does without them. When the TBMs begin their tunneling journey later this year, Allen estimates there may be as many as 80 trucks working at a time!
Being a trucking broker and dispatcher requires a lot of oversight to ensure compliance is being met. So to anyone interested in entering this line of work, or starting a small business that participates in large scale projects like this, M.A.D. Transportation recommends learning as much as you can, understanding all job requirements and reaching out to seasoned veterans whenever possible. "Don't be afraid to grow," Michelle advises, "and reach for opportunities, knowing that there are people to help along the way."
This team has certainly been able to rely on each other. After all, they're family.
