Larry Rodo, CEO of 4Refuel, Wins CITT Award of Excellence

Larry Rodo, CCLP, CEO of 4Refuel was awarded the 2022 CITT Award of Excellence at Canada's Logistics Conference 2023

CITT is pleased to announce Larry Rodo, President and CEO of 4Refuel, one of North America’s largest fuel and fluids logistics companies, as the 2022 CITT Award of Excellence winner.

Now in its 17th year, this prestigious award recognizes and honours an outstanding CITT member, chosen for their deep industry experience, professional integrity, and involvement with CITT and the Canadian logistics community. Larry was honoured at the closing awards dinner at Canada's Logistics Conference 2023, which was held in Saskatoon on June 6, 2023.

With over 40 years in logistics and supply chain experience, Larry was the natural choice for this year’s recipient. Joining the industry after university as a junior employee in the courier industry, Larry’s career has taken him worldwide – operating in most aspects of supply chain, including general freight, 3PL, transportation (air, sea, land, rail) as well as military logistics, pharmaceutical supply chains, high value transportation and now fuel distribution. He has held lead operations, sales, and C-level executive positions at several organizations.  Larry has also shared his vast professional knowledge as a consultant for the FBI, Private Equity, & Wall Street in the Banking, Cash Logistics and Armoured Security sectors.

Through all these experiences, Larry credits the many mentors who helped him grow into the industry leader he is today.

“The story of my career is that I tended to catch a lot of people on the back end of their career, who were in coaching and mentoring mode, and for whatever reason, liked what I was doing,” Larry explained when asked about his trajectory.

“I've always been mindful of the impact of good communications and engaged employees. Further, when you are in these leadership positions, I always felt the need to demonstrate tremendous ethics, integrity, and good old hard work.”

Now in his current position at 4Refuel, Larry is actively engaged in navigating his company through the energy transition. To do so, he is working hard to attract the right talent, while passing along foundational learning as offered to him by his early mentors.

According to Larry, “Business, in my opinion, is a team game, and in my current role, I can offer coaching, and work to help people continually improve. There are several guiding principles we apply at 4Refuel: create customer value, results matter, accountability is critical, as we maintain the motto of, ‘hard on issues, soft on people’.”

When asked if he had any advice for other managers and executives in the logistics industry, he added, “Don't live your life behind your desk and think you can run a company through spreadsheets. While they are important, you must get out in the field. See for yourself what's going on, and never forget your 4 key stakeholders: employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders.” 

The CITT is Canada's most engaged and interactive community for logistics learning, networking and business. Each year, the organization recognizes professional and academic accomplishment in logistics with a series of awards, including the Award of Excellence. See past winners here.