- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

- Hello, this is John Harmon, founder president, CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce in New Jersey.

And welcome to Pathway to Success.

Today's guest is Brandon Davis, founder of Davis, EIS Enterprises.

Welcome Brandon.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, my friend.

- So a little bit about myself.

I'm from Goldsboro, North Carolina.

For those of you who may not know, Goldsboro is an hour east of Raleigh.

Mother and father, brother and a sister.

I'm the middle baby, and I would say middle class.

My father was military.

My mother, she was an accountant, - You know, what was it like growing up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, sir?

- Yeah, so definitely I would, I would say a diverse upbringing.

The community primarily was military, so there was people from all walks of life constantly coming into to the community.

You know, every year you, you you'll see a new face.

- Yeah.

And your dad, what branch of the military?

- Air Force.

- Air Force.

And why not the military for you?

- So I looked at the military and for me it was the military or the fire service, and it just happened to be the fire service.

Then the, the city I was from.

Goldsborough.

- Did you go to college after high school?

- I did.

I went to a local community college in North Carolina, Wilson Tech, fire Science.

Essentially it's a degree that helps people in the fire service learn.

I, I would say, how to train and educate upcoming firemen.

- Wow, that's some interesting stuff.

Now, was there anyone around you that influenced you to consider that, that vocation?

- I would say, looking back, it was definitely community.

One particular guy, his name is Hezie, he told me about the fire service and I seen, I think it was like Rescue 9 1 1 growing up.

- Okay.

Yeah.

So I'm sure in that particular line of business, if you will, the fire, fire service, any interesting stories?

- Looking at my fire service degree, one of the key areas that we focused on was strategy and tactic.

So in the fire service you've got the strategy, which I would say is like the officers, the fire chiefs, if you will, that are kind of doing the planning, putting together the training materials for the operation, which is the tactics.

And so I've seen a little bit of both worlds being both a firefighter as well as a fire captain.

But interesting stories I would say.

I I, I've seen traffic accidents that, you know, people were ejected from the vehicle.

I've seen fires where people, you know, succumb to their injuries as well as, you know, good stories where we're delivering babies.

- But in, in that line of business and you know, you deal with a lot of traumatic experiences.

How do you compartmentalize those?

So you can go on and, and, and I don't say live a life with normalcy, but how did you just come back into integrating to a, a normal kind of course of business?

- You know, the fire service is kind of like family, I would say.

And similar values, principles that that that you have at home, at least I had in my home.

I would say, whether it be honesty, communication, integrity, those same things apply even in the fire service.

So if you are having, you know, a hard day within the fire service, your brothers and sisters that you work with, you know, you're talking with them, telling them you know what it is that you're feeling with what it is that you're going through.

And one, one thing that I think is important in the fire service as well as business is resiliency to overcome those tho those challenging things, - That's a great response.

Also, criminal justice, that's a part of your portfolio.

Talk about that.

- Went to get my criminal justice degree while I was in the fire service and my plan was to become an arson investigator to, to further my, you know, fire service career.

But the thing that I learned within criminal justice, not only was like community policing and policy and procedure and compliance, dotting your i's crossing your T's, which also is very important in business.

When you're reviewing a contract, you're looking at compliance to make sure that, you know, from a regulatory perspective, you're in sync.

- You know, Brandon, I just find this whole emergency response as very fascinating stuff.

There's special people that do this work and I want, I want the, our view is to hear you talk about your story.

You, you began your career as an emergency response fire captain.

How did operating high consequence environments, I mean, clearly these are life and death situations prepare you for your next journey in life.

- Fire service is a, a interesting career.

You know, people see trucks going down the road and, and responding to calls could be like an EMS call.

And I remember going back to my career, but we didn't call the firetruck.

You know, we, we have a, a medical emergency not realizing that, you know, firemen are also E-M-T-E-M-T basics paramedics.

And so I started my career on the firetruck.

And for those that may not know, the individuals in the back of the truck are what you call firefighters.

The front passenger seat is the fire captain, the driver, if you will, is the engineer.

And so I had the pleasure of sitting in each one those seats.

And I think probably the most remarkable one for me was the, the driver's seat.

Because I was responsible not only for that apparatus that is probably worth an over a million dollars, but also getting those individuals to the scene and from the scene safely.

And, and you would see a lot in that career from a fire perspective, if, if we pulled up to a house, you could see it blazing and you know, people are running out, you know, wanting you to go in and, and, and save their materials or, or rescue a loved one.

What we do in the fire service is risk first gain.

So you risk a lot to save a lot.

You risk a little to save a little.

That's, that's in every incident.

And so pulling up to a house, I, I, I remember thinking back, I, I seen different firemen that would be, you know, little, I would say anxious, but I was always that, that captain and even the firemen to, to take my time.

And so pulling up to, to the house, you could see fire, you see smoke and the, the house and the fire terms, the front of the house is the A corner.

Then you've got the B, the C is the backside and the D is the, is the other side.

So we will pull up and we will be able to get three sides of the house.

You see the front and you pull past it and you'll be able to see the other, the other side.

So before we've went in, we've already evaluated three, at least three corners of the house.

And the next end unit hopefully will be coming in from the backside and they could give you the back report.

And so now you've got a full 360 of what's going on now going inside the house, that's the tactics.

And you've got your chief on the outside, which is strategic.

And we're, we're in constant communication with each other.

You know, I'm giving my inside report and I, I remember this one fire right before I, I transitioned outta fire service and it was, it was hot in there.

And I remember saying to myself, I hope I'm able to make a home to my family because the, the fire was kind of like wrapping around us, but then it started feeling like it was getting better.

But what, what happened was the fire was actually above our heads and the chief or the, the command team outside seen that.

They made the call and essentially pulled all of us out.

And how you get that, you get it across the radio telling you, hey, you know, everybody needs that to, to exit.

There's also three blares of the air horn, you know, essentially letting you know to exit and then pulling everybody out.

- Let's talk about the, the logistics that go into making this situation come out as best you can for everyone concerned.

- You know, we prepare, we track, move, shift to, you know, changing environments or situations, whether it be, you know, a truck broke down, we need to get a another truck out there to recover the package, to get it, you know, to its destination on time.

And similar to the fire service where you're dealing with a patient or a person in the community, they're looking for that professionalism.

They're looking for you to execute flawlessly.

And it's the same thing in logistics where you may have that breakdown or ticket or something that came in the, the mix of making that delivery, but the end user, that customer still has to get that package or that product on time.

- So this is a real world emergency decision making that you make on the spot.

Now, how has that influenced your philosophy around redundancy data and execution?

- Data and history, you know, looking at, you know, trends, looking at past reports, looking to see what your data's showing you.

It could be everything from a truck that's using excess fuel.

I've even seen situations where the truck wasn't using excess fuel, but the driver was taking fuel.

But looking at that data showed me that, you know, this truck is consuming more fuel than, than it has the capacity.

Or, you know, we're delivering 500 miles of drive time, but we could have cut it down to 400 so we could have got, you know, packages to the customers fast.

We could have saved more fuel, more man hours and, and took that time and resources and put it towards something else.

- And also you emphasized how you enjoyed the truck driving aspect in the fire service.

So talk about truck driving and, and, and why that fascinates you.

- So looking at, you know, my neighbors, you know, doing what they do in their careers, whether it be over the road or local hauling fuel, I understood that that trucking was the, was the core piece that people having fuel in their cars, having clothes on their backs, having food at the grocery store, it was essentially that that source, - You know, I spent 16 years only my own transportation company so I could relate to it.

And as a kid, my, my dad drove trucks, older brother drove trucks, an uncle drove trucks, there were trucks all around me.

It's a fascinating career and you, and you learn a lot, but talk a little bit more about some of the, the intricacies of, of truck driving and then we're gonna talk about Davis, CIS on the other side.

- You know, over the past, I would say 20, 30 years, you know, transportation, trucking has evolved.

AI's a big piece of, of a lot of decision making within the transportation space.

I think COVID was kind of that, that shift over the past five years that separated the amateurs from the pros, you know, those that, that got in it because it was hot.

There was a huge demand, have have all but probably depleted now.

Trucking or logistics as a whole.

You've even either been great at logistics or you've been good at transportation.

I think today you got to have a little bit of both.

And ai I think could be that bridge that, that will help even Davis be great at logistics as a whole.

- You know, I think this is a fascinating conversation.

So we'll be back on the other side of the break.

Back in a moment.

- For more information, please visit our website.

- Welcome back to the Pathway to Success.

Brandon, let's get right to it, man.

What inspired you to, to establish this organization?

- Growing up with trucks just was always fascinated with them.

Got my CDL in 2007 and part-time with drive trucks hauling fuel for propane companies, transitioning out of fire service.

I knew that my passion was in transportation, in logistics, went into safety and compliance with a company called AmeriGas.

And I think in those rooms is really when it, it piqued my interest to, to want to expand within the logistics space.

Sitting in those rooms with ops directors, VPs, hr, legal, hearing them essentially run their operation, run their business.

It it, it let me know that I could do it as well.

And so in 2018, went and got my broker authority.

For those that may not know freight or commerce that moves up and down the highways is required to, to do so either through a carrier or through a broker.

But fast forward to COVID, there was a real opportunity for transportation.

And so went out and saw AD and it was for final mile delivery and for those that may not know, five mile delivery essentially is from the warehouse to the customer.

And so we were hauling ovens and stoves and other, you know, household compliances to people's homes and started out with two rental rental trucks right there at the beginning of COVID.

And the opportunity just grew from there.

I think by the time I looked around in 2020, we had over 10 trucks and at, at our peak over 40 trucks.

- So, so you were really into the game then.

That's, that sounds exciting.

Talk about, you know, the final logistics and sustainability as it applies to your business - And supply chain logistics.

So from essentially a product being manufactured to it, being delivered to somebody's home, consuming it.

Today we do a lot of warehousing and distribution for some larger Fortune 500 companies, which you all probably would know.

We store for them, track it, and when they need it, they call us and we deliver it to them.

- No, I think that's fascinating stuff.

So, all right.

You talk about logistics, you talk about sustainability, let's talk about the requirements of why you have to create a log for transporting pro commodities to and from.

- Yeah, so the DOT Department of Transportation, they regulate that the amount of hours that not only trucks, but buses, trains, planes can, can operate, people get sleepy, fall asleep and you know, somebody can get hurt or injured.

And the same thing with the ELD electronic logging device, which before people could essentially fill out a paper log and say that, you know, I started my day at seven, I ended at seven at night, I worked 12 hours, but really it could have worked a lot more.

One thing I think about the Tracy Morgan incident, yes, I think it was a Walmart truck that, that hit his tour bus and that driver I think was on the road for like 18 hours.

But the, the industry's evolving.

Diesel fuel was a big thing.

Now you're seeing electric trucks out there, you talking about sustainability c and g type tractors on, on the road.

So c and g tractors are compressed natural gas.

You see a lot of them with like FedEx, UPS, Amazon, those trucks that run more like local runs.

It's is really, really good.

But for the over the road, I would say you, you still see a lot of your diesel trucks because you know, of course diesel, there's a lot more diesel stations than it is charging stations or compressed natural gas refilling stations.

- Let's talk a little bit about supply chain and the disruption and how, how your company navigated during the pandemic.

- So COVID taught a lot, and I think that in a sense we're kind of in ano another space like that today, where's AI is telling us a lot.

We were heavily dependent on essentially other countries giving us our products.

You know, everything was that we needed essentially was manufactured overseas.

And so, you know, when COVID happened, we didn't have enough and when it was made, you had to get it across, whether it be the sea or the air.

And so what we've learned, you know, since COVID is to essentially manufacture or have enough readily available here at home.

And so what the supply chain did for Davis, I would say five, six years ago was it gave us the opportunity to get in at a prime time, almost an emergency situation, to, to move those masks that we needed.

And they were high commodities, you know, if you, if you had a mask that that was a valuable thing five or six years ago.

And it was because with, there wasn't enough being manufactured over overseas and then being able to get here, they needed a lot of trucks, they needed a lot of warehouse space, they needed a lot of trailers.

I wanted to be able to, to meet that need.

And it was not by going out purchasing a lot of trucks, I found the opportunity to meet that need for my customers by leasing equipment.

It allowed me to flex up and down as you know, business was there.

Similarly, today it's more so sustainability.

So our customers are looking at their waste similar to probably people at home looking at, you know, how wasteful, you know, we've been and trying to, to do more with less.

So over the past two years we've moved more into a sustainable type practice.

And so gloves, vests, hard hats are some items that our customers consume within their warehouse facilities that historically threw 'em away and essentially would be pounds and pounds of plastic waste going to the landfill, which didn't need to go there.

And you could get probably another two or three uses out of it.

So today we bring it in with our trucks, we store it in our warehouse after it's been cleaned, and the items that we're able to repurpose, we'll repurpose them to our customers.

Those that can't will offset them, whether it be donating it to another customer that can use them or even building up enough inventory that it could burn off and, and we could create fuel out of it by partnerships with local colleges, - You've gone beyond just transporting goods.

You, you also are repurposing materials.

Speak to that a little bit.

- Yeah, so our customer listening to them and their particular needs.

So what I've found with a lot of our customers over the past few years is they're looking at how wasteful they are or you know, their reports.

So environmental reporting is, is a huge thing today.

And so what I found is listening to the customer, seeing what value that they need, and the value that we found over the past two years is gloves, or for another word, PPE protection they consume.

Historically the thought process was an employee would use it and they would throw it away.

And so those items, just like everything else in these facilities, warehouses are going to the landfill and, you know, creating more and more waste.

The federal government as well as some state governments have started imposing, I would say laws or fines for these large corporations that are dumping waste, could be up to a dollar pound.

And so what these large corporations that we've partnered with are doing is saying, Hey, we don't want to get hit with those fines, plus we want to have a positive impact on the environment, but that's not our core business, so who can help us with it?

The gloves, the vest, the hard hats that historically went to the landfills.

But for those that can be reused, we package them after being cleaned and redistributed 'em to our customers, extending the life sometimes four to five times what it would've been for a, a new glove or a new vest.

- You, you've now gone from just being a logistics of transportation company.

You've had great experience on the emergency management side and now environmental sustainability, you know, what advice could you give to a business owner that may have gotten a little complacent, they've been doing the same routine day in and day out and they've gotten comfortable.

- I think it's being present, being aware of what's going on.

If you're not bringing AI into your business, your competition is, so I, I think I would, I would offer that to, you know, entrepreneurs that are, are looking to stay relevant, stay present with the times and see, see what's going on around you.

- In your experience, was it easy for you and your team to adapt to ai?

- I look at AI and I put it in front of my team as not as a replacement, but it's a tool and similar to, you know, like a tool in a toolbox, you don't the proper tool for the job.

You know, you're not gonna take and use scissors that to hammer a nail in the wall.

Similar with, with ai, you have to use it at the right time.

And I think what, what we've done at Davis is use it to create kind of the framework or the foundation at times or could be to just bring reports together, for example, maybe an Excel and some historical data as well as a report that needs to be worded onto a one pager for an exec executive summary.

So framing all that up, putting those three documents into a a AI platform and, and having it produce it for you, but it puts it together timely, you know, instead of spending months and, and, and, and years on trying to develop something - Brandon, you know, you can do well, but you can also do good.

Can you speak to about your philanthropy and your support to the community?

- Yeah, so Davis partnered recently with Trade Ally who's in collaboration with utility companies like PSE and G or Con Edison over the past few months.

And we were able to bring in individuals who are socially challenged, economically challenged and train them, develop them, and actually leading to them having a job.

And I think the beautiful thing about that was it didn't put a strain on Davis financially.

We were able to get, you know, individuals from the community and, you know, help train them up and it was a great working relationship and now they're Davis employees.

I think the other thing that's important to to community is whether it be these large companies or a small company like Davis, it is your community, our drivers, our warehouse staff, our frontline employees, they're all com, you know, community.

They're from the community, they know the community.

So we've definitely found leveraging our community.

- Let's look down the road five, 10 years from now, what does the future hold for Davis EIS enterprise?

- I think Davis, EIS enterprise will, will encompass different business units within the supply chain.

Manufacturing is definitely high on my list.

There's a lot that that we can do here.

Stateside, PPE is one thing that stands out.

So whether it be gloves and vests looking to procure and, and manufacture those items, I think is one.

Business vehicles, of course we'll continue to keep our vehicles, but moving to safer, more efficient vehicles, electric vehicles I think is a, is another unit.

And then of course, you know, the space, the warehousing space.

- Brandon Davis, we thank you for being on Pathway to Success today.

- Thank you John.

- Until the next time on your Pathway to success, this is John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Thank you for tuning in.

Today's message is being strategic in 2026.

You know, oftentimes you've heard me talk about the state of New Jersey.

There's 9 million people here.

Blacks represent about 1.2 million of the population, of which 124,000 black businesses.

And so I think it's important that we, we all have a strategy for our lives, our families.

If you don't have a plan for retirement or a plan for in case of a, a tragedy should occur, your home, your job as well as our businesses.

You know, just imagine two professional teams going out to compete against each other and one prepared and the other one just showing up by just showing up.

You, you're definitely going to come out on a losing side.

And so as we think about the disparities, whether it be lack of home ownership or poverty or unemployment, what is our strategy as a people to engage those that have the power to help level the playing field?

I think by doing so, it makes the state more competitive and life things happen all the time.

And if you don't prepare for those things, unfortunately the outcomes are not going to be in your favor.

So my word to you is live your lives a little more intentionally, have a strategy for your life.

Thank you.

- Support for this program was provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.