Ep. #83: Ken Adamo joins Ease Logistics as Chief Strategy Officer

A major freight market intelligence leader is leaving DAT for a brokerage and he’s explaining exactly why. Ken Adamo joins me and Peter Coratola to talk about what most people misunderstand about DAT, how brokers should actually use spot market data, and why the best teams treat analytics as decision support rather than a single “rate truth.” If you’ve ever argued over Rateview screenshots, struggled to explain pricing to a shipper, or wondered why fancy tools don’t get adopted, this one will hit home.We also break news: Ken is joining Ease Logistics as Chief Strategy Officer. We unpack what that role looks like inside a modern, tech-forward brokerage, from product and pricing science to tech adoption and strategic bets. Along the way we debate the seductive idea of drop trailers and why trailer pools can turn into a margin-killing operational tax if you don’t have the systems, discipline, and accountability to manage them.Then we go straight into the market: Winter Storm Fern, RFP behavior, and the mistakes that cost incumbents freight when they panic, give volume back, or “quote cowardly.” Ken shares a grounded outlook on contract rates, the capacity flush, and why 2026 is the table-setting year that can create a huge 2027 for brokers who stay disciplined on pricing, operations, and portfolio thinking (yes, including the reality that some loads go negative).If you like honest freight broker talk with practical strategy, subscribe, share this with a teammate, and leave a review so more operators can find it.Follow The Freight Pod and host Andrew Silver on LinkedIn.Thanks to our sponsors:Stuut Technologies: Your AI coworker that collects your cash automatically.https://www.stuut.ai/Cloneops.ai: Not just AI. Industry-born AI.https://www.cloneops.ai/Rapido Solutions Group: Nearshore solutions for logistics companies.https://www.gorapido.com/GenLogs: Freight Intelligence on every carrier, shipper, and asset via a nationwide sensor networkhttps://www.genlogs.io/