F E AT U R E
29
New CLDA President John
Benko Knows How to Deliver
BY ANDREA OBSTON, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, CLDA
After more than three decades
in the business, John Benko has
delivered everything from lost
luggage to live tropical fish to
a heart to wine, flour and dog
food. Chances are if you’ve or-
dered something on-line from
a major retailer, John’s had a
hand in getting it to your door.
And now, he has another ac-
complishment to add to his re-
sume. He is the new President
of the CLDA. He was elected
at the May Annual Meeting and
will serve in that position for
two years.
John is the Director of Opera-
tions for Pace a multi-regional
customized logistics solutions
provider based in Birmingham.
They provide final-mile, courier
and customized logistics servi-
ces.
He brings over 30 years of expe-
rience to the position and has
been involved with the asso-
ciation for over a decade. Pre-
viously he served as the CLDA’s
First Vice President and chaired
the Government Affairs; Mem-
bership; Vendor and State Asso-
ciation Committees.
As president of the CLDA Bo-
ard of Directors John supports
the association’s emphasis on
creating business opportunities
for members; deepening its rela-
tionship with others in the supply
chain; moving legislative efforts
forward on behalf of members and
presenting its two major industry
meetings in the spring and fall.
AN EX-AIRLINE GUY
John’s been moving people and
things around since 1984. That’s
when he started work for Piedmont
Airlines. “I did everything other
than fuel ‘em and fly ‘em,” says this
former customer service rep.
John started his career “throwing
bags and driving tickets,” he recalls.
He worked his way up to supervisor,
shift manager and departmental
manager(s). When Piedmont was
taken over by US Air, they closed
Tallahassee as a mainline station
where John worked and moved
him to Charlotte, NC, Philadelphia,
PA and finally Tampa, FL.
It was there that the idea to start a
business began to take shape. “I was
the customer service manager we
used an an outside company to de-
liver lost luggage that had to go to
customers’ homes,” he recalls. “The
company wasn’t doing a very good
job. Delivering bags was an ancil-
lary business for them and frankly, I
don’t think they cared much about
the kind of job they were doing on
this part of their business. I wasn’t
alone. All the managers at the Tam-
pa airport were in the same boat.
I couldn’t even get the vendor to
come see me about my issues.
When they did finally meet with
me they told me they couldn’t do
any better. So, I decided to deve-
lop a business model to do the job
myself. For six months, I did that
on top of my regular job and we
were doing very well. It was clear I
couldn’t continue to do both jobs.
I went home and told my wife
Sandra that I would be delivering
lost luggage for a living. After she
recovered from shock, she would
say. ‘I know you would never do
anything to hurt us, let’s do this’
and MANKO Delivery Systems Inc.
was born in 1999.”
BEYOND THE LUGGAGE
John knew he had to move more
than lost luggage if MANKO was
to th rive. For the next five years
he, grew the business. “I knew I
wasn’t’ going to retire on delive-
ring lost luggage. So we went to
Customized Logistics and Delivery Association | Fall 2016