Safety and compliance are critical considerations when searching for logistics partners. Strong compliance initiatives help control costs through avoiding fines, reducing operational disruptions, increasing efficiency, providing environmental benefits, and boosting security while providing competitive advantage.
A strong emphasis on safety reduces workplace injuries and assures operational continuity. Costly accidents and cargo damage can be minimized, and insurance costs lowered. The resulting cost savings can be significant, to the benefit of partnerships.
Pace’s Chad Godwin, Compliance Officer and General Counsel, is instrumental in designing and administering our compliance and safety programs, in service to our clients, partners, and team members. Coming to Pace 9 years ago with a resume of practicing law specializing in the freight transportation industry, Chad originally served as Director of Legal. His responsibilities have grown into his current role that, as Chad describes it, “sits at the intersection of legal, HR, safety, and compliance across all our operating companies.”
Implementation of Solutions That Actually Solve Problems Matters
Chad says that it’s the people and the complexity that he appreciates as a member of Pace’s Executive Leadership Team. “In a company like Pace, where we use an extremely diverse model to service customers from the automotive industry to the medical industry, across most states in the US, no two days are the same. I’ve had the opportunity to implement solutions and solve problems that matter. That’s not something you get in every legal role. The icing on the cake comes in the form of working shoulder-to-shoulder with the great people that call Pace home. Over the years, I’ve made steadfast lifelong friendships here at Pace that I’ll carry with me for years to come.”
From the legal perspective, his role directs contract negotiations and drafting, loss and insurance claim administration, and overseeing formal disputes. From a compliance and HR perspective, he and his team make sure that Pace employees and contractors operate within the bounds of applicable laws and regulations. Regarding safety, his team strives to protect the Safety-First culture that his leadership has assembled at Pace. “The idea is that that all of our employees, and those clients, partners, and service providers that we encounter over the course of a given workday make it home safe at the end of the day.”
Teamwork Powers Safety and Compliance Partnerships
When asked what he enjoys about helping Pace clients, contractors, partners, and fellow team members, Chad replied with a unique perspective. “They each need something different, and figuring out how to serve all constituents fairly, often within the same document or decision, is where I spend a lot of my time. I genuinely like people, and I think good legal work is fundamentally about understanding what someone needs versus what they’re asking for on the surface.”
Chad believes in the power of teamwork. “Our operations team is doing genuinely hard work, moving freight on tight timelines, managing driver relationships, handling customer expectations in real time. My job and the jobs of the departments that I oversee are to make sure they have the footing to do that confidently. When it clicks, it’s a real partnership.”
Pace Core Values Guide Actions
Pace Core Values come into play as Chad and his team add value to our client, partner, and contractor relationships. His take on our value to Serve relentlessly? “It means being accessible and responsive,” Chad said. “People often bring questions to me when they’re already in a tough spot, so they need an answer they can trust, and they often need it quickly. Serving relentlessly in that context means you don’t let people sit in uncertainty longer than necessary. You show up, you engage the problem, and you find a path forward, and for me, that’s especially true with the internal teammates who count on us every day.”
Doing the right thing is perhaps the easiest Pace value to say and the hardest to live up to, said Chad, “especially when there’s pressure in the other direction. In my role, I see many, many moments where the right answer isn’t the convenient one. What I appreciate about Pace’s culture is that when I bring those moments to leadership, the response is always to do things the right way. That matters a great deal to me.”
Preparation and Self Improvement Drive Higher Client Success
Chad takes his role, and its ultimate impact on Pace clients’ and partners’ experience and success seriously. His approach to preparing and improving each week? “I try to stay curious. Transportation law, employment law, and commercial contracting are all moving targets.
Regulations change, courts issue new opinions, and business models evolve. I try to learn from the operational side of the business. The best legal advice I can give is informed by understanding how trucks move and how contracts play out in the real world, not just on paper.” Chad said he reads industry publications, FMCSA regulatory guidance, and keeps up with current research on trucking operations and costs. He pays close attention to how courts are treating independent contractor classification across the country. “That’s a space where staying current isn’t optional,” he said.
Chad and his wife Carissa celebrated their 25th anniversary in the past year and have a 21-year-old son soon graduating college. When weather permits, Chad and Carissa enjoy getting out into the wilderness and enjoying the outdoors. Astronomy is a close second. Chad follows markets, policy developments, and geopolitical and business trends closely and finds that it bleeds into his work in useful ways.
Chad says that Pace is a company that’s growing in an intentional way, with client success and experience the focus. “That applies equally to partners, contractors, and Pace team members, too,” he said. “The legal, safety, and compliance infrastructure we’re building reflects that. When a customer signs an agreement with us, or when a contractor comes on board, those relationships are structured to be durable and fair. That’s not accidental. It’s the result of a lot of careful work by a lot of people across this organization.”
