When Cindy Lee launched Lync Logistics in May of 2014, she initially envisioned the freight brokerage business as a sideline to her main job at Lesco Logistics, a family-owned trucking firm she ran for 16 years.

"When I started this, my big goal was to have about five brokers and I thought my truck fleet might grow to about 75 trucks from the 60 trucks we had at the time," Lee said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I expect we would grow as much as we have."

But Lync Logistics, which generated $800,000 in revenues in 2014, topped $28 million in sales last year and Lee expects Lync's sales to double again in 2019. The freight brokerage firm Lee started as a sideline venture became her full-time job in 2017 when she shut down Lesco Logistics and last year emerged as one of the fastest growing woman-owned business in America, according to a new ranking by the Women Presidents' Organization.

WPO's 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies list ranked Lync No. 3 in the country after the company more than doubled sales last year.

"We've doubled our revenues every year, far eclipsing what we initially envisioned," Lee said. "It's been a great ride and I can only see it continuing to go upward."

Lync has grown to 48 employees, including nine female brokers and 21 male brokers. "This has been a great team effort," Lee said.

Lync Logistics is among more than a half dozen local freight brokers which provide truckload, less-than-truckload, refrigerated and specialized transportation services using local, regional and national carriers.

Brokers are helping shippers and truckers focus on their jobs while aligning freight shipments for more efficiency, Lee said.

Coming out of the trucking background, Lee said she brings a trucking perspective to match the focus on shippers showed by most freight brokers.

"We have really good employees; we watch our expenses and we have a really good bank on our side," she said. "We invest in our people, use cutting edge equipment and technology and leverage our experience to provide the highest quality of service possible. We measure our success through the success of our customers."

Lee is still fairly unique as a woman-owned operator in freight brokers and trucking business.

"We try to be very family-oriented and support our workers, but it's still a very competitive market," Lee said.

Lync is also one of the fastest growing businesses of any type in the country, ranking No. 415 on the Inc. 500 list for all small businesses in 2018.

In its 12th annual ranking of women-owned or women-run businesses, WPO estimates that the top 50 firms generated $5.9 billion in revenues.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.