Trent Griffin-Braaf started Tech Valley Shuttle in 2016 and GB Logistics in 2020 to partner with Amazon for deliveries.
His mission: To combat poverty through expanded transportation options for individuals in underserved communities and rural areas.
Often the work involves partnering with hospitals to shuttle things like groceries or medicines to people who live in inaccessible communities. Or to bring people who work in transportation deserts to places like FedEx.
Other times, the mission is met through community work, such as offering complimentary shuttle service to families attending the funerals of the Buffalo shooting victims, or free community shuttles to correctional facilities on holidays.
Griffin-Braaf said those efforts have become more possible as sales and ridership have increased, driven by wedding parties and the Get-to-Work program.
How does your mission fit into Tech Valley Shuttle’s business model? We’ve expanded into non-emergency medical transportation to help support individuals dealing with addictions. We like to treat everyone like a VIP. I know that in certain situations, people don’t always get treated as a VIP clientele. And so we felt that as we enter into this space to help individuals by supporting them, getting them where they need to go, but also feel good in doing so. We’re hopeful we’ll also help in reducing their rate of return to the addiction. We’re starting to work with more immigrant populations in the Capital Region. We’ve been working with Hudson Valley [Community College] to help some of those populations have reliable transportation to and from school. And we’re working with some housing authorities in the same space trying to help individuals remove any barriers, maybe grocery delivery, things of that nature.
How does growing the business help those community efforts? When, like with the situation of Buffalo, it comes out of nowhere, I’m always going to do whatever I can to help. But we’re not a nonprofit. We can’t raise funds or get funding to support a lot of the things we do. We literally utilize the proceeds from services and reinvest them into helping out in those sorts of ways. Naturally, when sales are down, it limits what we’re able to do to that capacity. We’re on pace to have the best year we’ve ever had. And so that’s allowed a lot of good opportunities.
How have your past experiences shaped your leadership style? It’s empathy. Putting ourselves in other people’s shoes. That’s something I push with my team and that I do in every single conversation I have with people. When addressing issues, I’m always trying to take a moment to assess the whole situation. Why is this person doing this? Where could they be coming from? Is something going on at home? And then putting myself in their shoes. I can understand why you came off like that. This is how I can help. The experiences I had in my life allow me to really just empathize with people on a totally real level.
What’s your advice for other leaders? Take more time to figure out ways to incorporate practices in which they are being diverse. That they are including others and not thinking just the same old ways, but thinking outside of the box. The best way you could think outside of the box is by surrounding yourself with smarter people, but also people that come from all kind of walks of life, because then you get all kind of different perspectives. It’s not just talking diversity, it’s living it by giving someone a shot that you might not have normally, or going out on a limb. And the person that doesn’t look like you, maybe I’ll give that person a shot because what they bring in the table is something that I never even thought about.
Interview has been edited and condensed.
Trent Griffin-Braaf
Title: CEO of GB Logistics; president and founder of Tech Valley Shuttle
Age: 38
Where he grew up: Bronx/Harlem and Schenectady
Where he lives: Clifton Park
Family: Wife, Lacey; three daughters: Tatiana, Talya, Taylor; and son, Lincoln