Logistics head never gave in to ‘gender stereotypes’

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It can be a unique path for women in Canada’s enterprising families. We profile some of their stories in our Women and Canadian Business Families series.

Logistics and transportation has traditionally been a male-oriented sector, making Tara Mowat, president and chief executive of the Logistics Alliance Inc., a trailblazer heading a family business in this area.

Logistics Alliance is a Brampton, Ont.-based supply chain management provider specializing in inbound transport and transportation management services for large retailers and their suppliers across Canada.

When Mowat took over the business from her father, it was an unexpected and at times bumpy transition period. Being sidelined during client “functions” was just part of the precarious period she experienced before finding her voice and being taken more seriously in a male-dominated industry.

It is a situation many women can relate to, despite their history of getting the job done as effectively as men.

“Mothers, daughters, sisters, they rise and find their voice when circumstances dictate – they understand their responsibility and embrace the opportunity to nourish and grow the systems that create stability and continuity for generations to come,” says Susan St. Amand, national board chair of Family Enterprise Canada and the Executive in Residence of the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, herself a third-generation entrepreneur and president and CEO of The Sirius Group Inc.

“Just as female authors and artists used pseudonyms, many female entrepreneurs went unrecognized as their spouses [or fathers] appeared to be the successful business leader.”

Early on, Mowat had learned from a trusted family member that proving her worth away from the family business would be key to forging ahead if she ever wanted to be a CEO. This early lesson stayed with her throughout her university studies and first job, and gave Mowat a glimpse of the challenges she would experience as a leader in family enterprise.

What is your family business history?

“Logistics Alliance is the second family business that I have been involved with. It was started 22 years ago by my father, John Mowat, after the sale of our original family business, which was a very successful regional (Ontario and Quebec) trucking and package delivery service that my grandfather had started in the 1950s.

The entire family would have worked at one point in time for our family trucking company. I worked every summer from a very young age doing lots of different things in customer service, operations and administration.

My father had an older sister, but as the eldest son, he purchased the business in the ’80s from my grandfather. The business was sold in the late ’90s and my father decided to start our current business, Logistics Alliance.

Many of our employees and management team have also, from time to time, referred other members of their family to work for us.”

Over the years, what was your role within your family business?

“When my father started Logistics Alliance, I actually did not take any role in the company. I was in university while my father was still running our family trucking business. I had already decided that I was going to try and forge a path away from the family business.

I have an aunt whom I am very close to, who is a role model to me. She had also decided to forge a path away from the family business and has been incredibly successful. My father also spent some time away from the family business early in his career.

It became clear to me early on that succeeding away from the family business was almost a requirement to bring an element of credibility to my capabilities.

I think I also tried to break the gender norms in terms of my choice of school program. After finishing a history degree, I decided to move into computer engineering, which then was also quite a male dominated discipline.

In my third and fourth year, I was very often the only woman in my classes. I looked at this as a challenge and, again, a way to prove my gender was absolutely not a limiting factor in my ability to forge any path I wanted to professionally.

I worked in information technology and management consulting for some of the larger companies in the space and then as an independent contractor in both Canada and the U.S.

I moved back from the U.S. in 2006. At that point my father’s new enterprise had seen much success and they needed to re-platform their IT systems for further growth. I lead this activity on contract for the business and continued for several years, helping with projects as they needed.

In 2012 my father asked me to join the business full-time as part of his succession planning. It was not a slam dunk start for me into a leadership role by any means once I did agree to join, even though I had spent years at this point helping with systems and had played a huge role in engineering many of the administrative and system processes.

I spent the next three to four years learning and working in the operations within the business. It was clear in this male dominated industry it was going to be impossible to get anywhere without having done that.

I did feel I had to earn my credibility by getting into the warehouses and riding in trucks with the drivers.

While I was on the edges doing this, I was also excluded from many of the senior client engagements for the first few years. My dad wanted me to learn to golf better so I might participate in the many meetings he took with clients on the course. I actually resisted this and told my father I would find my own way to engage.

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It did eventually turn around and in 2018 I became president of the company. I learned several years later from a key leader with one of our large clients, who had become a huge champion of mine, that when my father told him he wanted me to join the business in 2012 that his immediate reaction was to tell my dad that he shouldn’t be making the company into a ‘retirement plan’ for his family.

When he was sharing this story, he made a point of telling me just how absolutely wrong he was to have ever taken this view and it was one of the best things to have happened for me to have joined the family business and forge my own way.”

How have you experienced the evolution of women’s roles, especially in your industry?

“I will say that my dad and I did have to come to understandings with respect to having different of communication, management, and networking styles.

I also did have to set some boundaries around availability for my family versus work that my father never had to.

As far as the organization itself, early on I did make a point of opening up opportunities for more women to be considered for operational roles in the company.

I have really seen a huge change over the past several years, however, with respect to women’s involvement in my industry. In 2012 I did not have many female peers. This has changed. There are now lots of events and organizations for woman in supply chain and transportation. This year I am attending a ‘ladies-only’ Superbowl event. A few years ago, that would have been absolutely unheard of to happen.

I also think that, just like women, most of my male colleagues are now prioritizing family.

I see people more naturally gravitating to looking for the best person for a role versus worrying about gender. At one point, some in my industry have joked I was the son my dad never had. That never happens anymore – it is more about having someone capable to take over the family business.”

How did starting a family affect your decisions around your role in the family business?

“I waited quite a while before deciding to become a mother. I actually I took quite a bit of ‘flak’ from many in my family for not having chosen to have kids earlier. I felt strongly that I needed to wait until I had accomplished some of the things I wanted to with respect to career, travel, etc.

I had my daughter while we were doing the system re-platform for the family business. The team still joke with me that I took the shortest maternity leave in history because I was only away a few weeks or so before coming back to help at a critical transition point.

I know that because my family was counting on me I did feel extra pressure to do this. Once we were through that period, however, I did say no to an initial offer from my father to continue working full-time at the company until several years later when I did finally join. At that point I decided that I wanted to prioritize a few years being a mom over my job and my husband and I moved to the U.K., where he is originally from, before returning in 2012.

My daughter is a teenager and not really old enough yet to start working in the company. At the moment she has no interest in our family business for her future. We will have to see how this evolves.

I also have to say that I have been incredibly fortunate to have a husband/partner who is incredibly supportive of me and is not afraid of my success.

We have an amazing management team, and I can see the possibility in the future that the role of our family in the enterprise may evolve to not necessarily be directly involved in the day-to-day operations.”

What have you been most proud of throughout your career?

“I think I am most proud of never having given in to gender stereotypes and I have always embraced a challenge.”

What advice do you have for next-generation women in enterprising families?

“I also have always felt strongly that women, and all people, frankly, need to not be afraid to take their seat at the table when the opportunity presents itself.

It is also important to be patient, as it does take time to break down barriers, but if you are confident and capable, it will happen. But take risks if need be to advance.

Don’t be afraid to say no.

I do think everyone, regardless of gender, should need to prove themselves to take their place in the family enterprise – especially a leadership role.

As the next generation in a family business, taking some time away from the family business to work in other industries and get that outside experience I think is critical for anyone. It is a big world and by going outside of what you may know so well within the confines of your family business, you learn so much that you can eventually look to bring back to the enterprise and ultimately use to support greater success.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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