Sheer Logistics
A St. Louis-based, fee-based managed transportation and freight brokerage company, founded in 2009, that took on debt and equity investment from Woodlawn Partners and Monroe Capital in 2022 and acquired the 3PL company CargoBarn in 2024.
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- Established
- 2009
- Location
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Country
- United States
- Founded as
- SheerTrans Solutions (2009), later renamed Sheer Logistics
- Founder
- Joe Egertson
- Business model
- Fee-based, carrier- and mode-agnostic managed transportation (4PL) rather than traditional freight brokerage
- Proprietary platform
- "Sheer Exchange" — integration middleware used to onboard clients in roughly eight weeks
- CEO
- Joel Gard (since January 2024)
Overview
Sheer Logistics is a St. Louis-based managed transportation and freight brokerage company founded in 2009 by Joe Egertson, initially under the name SheerTrans Solutions. Rather than operating as a traditional freight broker, the company positions itself as a fee-based, carrier- and mode-agnostic managed transportation provider, offering strategic network analysis, procurement operations, business intelligence, freight auditing and dock scheduling, built around its proprietary “Sheer Exchange” integration platform, which the company says can onboard new clients in about eight weeks (FreightWaves).
Investment and growth
On 7 October 2022, Woodlawn Partners led a debt and equity co-investment in the company alongside Monroe Capital LLC, on undisclosed terms. Industry veterans Eddie Leshin and Brian Winshall — both formerly of American Backhaulers and C.H. Robinson — joined as operating partners and board members, with Winshall also becoming Chief Revenue Officer. Winshall described the company’s positioning at the time: “Managed transportation is often misrepresented” as basic brokerage work, whereas Sheer delivers “technology-driven, fee-based solutions” aimed at “efficiency gains, cost reductions, service improvement” (FreightWaves). Joel Gard became CEO in January 2024, and that April the company acquired the third-party logistics provider CargoBarn to expand its brokerage specialties, adding four new office locations — Fresno, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and Jacksonville, Florida (FreightWaves).
What this profile does not claim
Neither FreightWaves article read for this profile discloses the size or financial terms of the 2022 Woodlawn Partners/Monroe Capital investment — only that it took the form of a debt and equity co-investment.
Timeline
- 2009
- Joe Egertson founds the company, initially as SheerTrans Solutions, based on the idea that there was an opportunity for technology-driven managed transportation distinct from ordinary brokerage.
- 2022-10-07
- Woodlawn Partners leads a debt and equity co-investment alongside Monroe Capital LLC, on undisclosed terms. Industry veterans Eddie Leshin and Brian Winshall (formerly of American Backhaulers and C.H. Robinson) join as operating partners and board members; Winshall also becomes Chief Revenue Officer.
- 2024-01
- Joel Gard becomes CEO.
- 2024-04
- Sheer Logistics acquires 3PL company CargoBarn, expanding its brokerage specialties and adding four new office locations: Fresno, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and Jacksonville, Florida.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Neither source read for this profile discloses the size or terms of the 2022 Woodlawn Partners/Monroe Capital investment.
Sources
2 sources (2 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
Both sources for this profile are original, byline-authored reporting from FreightWaves, an established logistics-industry trade publication — not press-release reprints. Several other outlets that mention the CargoBarn acquisition were checked and excluded because they simply syndicate the same press release verbatim rather than reporting independently.
- FreightTech titans invest in Sheer Logistics' modern approach to managed transportation Supports: Founding year and founder, the company's original name, its fee-based managed-transportation business model, the Sheer Exchange platform, and the 2022 investment and new board members.
- Sheer Logistics acquires CargoBarn to expand brokerage specialties Supports: The 2024 CargoBarn acquisition and Joel Gard's appointment as CEO.
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