Lauren Reed Sets Her Sights on Growth
MHEDA BEGINS AN exciting new era under the leadership of CEO Lauren Reed (Zak), a familiar face with a deep passion for the industry and its people. A longtime MHEDA member, Reed has built her career on relationships, transparency and data-driven decision making. In this Q&A, Reed shares her professional journey and her vision for strengthening member value, growing engagement and building the next generation of industry leaders.
Please tell The MHEDA Journal readers a little about your background.
Where you grew up and how your early experiences influenced your career path.
I grew up in Hudson, Ohio, and found myself drawn to leadership early on. In high school, I led my marching band of nearly 300 students, which taught me how to bring people together, listen to different perspectives and build structure while having fun. Thinking back, that experience shaped me more than I realized.
I went on to study marketing at Kent State University, where I discovered how much I enjoy blending strategy and creativity. It was during that time that I started to learn the value of thinking from someone else’s perspective to tell a compelling story or solve a problem.
What first drew you to the material handling industry?
I started my material handling career at Concept, a MHEDA member, and sales consulting firm that helps companies achieve business growth through prospecting, marketing, and CRM. My journey at Concept started as a cold caller for two forklift dealers. In that role, I learned a lot about myself – not only how to be resilient and deal with rejection, but how to earn trust while positioning myself and my company as a resource.
After cold calling, I began working with clients to define who they should go after, why those prospects mattered, and how to reach them with the right message and method. I took on more responsibility from manager to director of one campus, then another and eventually all sales development operations and then lastly, I sold Concept’s services. It was on that journey that I jumped the fence to help my dealer, distributor, integrator, or OEM clients manage sales opportunities from appointment to return on investment. I really enjoyed learning sales leadership and enablement methods from behind the curtain.
During my time at Concept, I worked with more than 80 companies across the material handling industry – from small, family-run forklift dealerships to OEMs offering emerging technologies to large, multi-location, marquee named companies.
What I began to notice is that everyone had essentially the same challenges, with nuances of course. That realization made it clear to me how I could help teams challenge their status quo and find growth.
I learned from so many amazing leaders of all different backgrounds. It was the most transformative time in my professional life. I went from my mid ‘20s into my early ’30s working with people who had been in the industry for 30 years, but sitting in a seat where my voice was respected and where I could bring value. I formed really wonderful relationships in that role that I still have today, many of those people are MHEDA members.
Concept also introduced me to MHEDA in a meaningful way. I became active in the association and was fortunate to speak at several MHEDA programs.
After years consulting, I decided to make a change to experience working for a rapidly growing material handling company – especially one that hired me not to put out a fire, but to start something new. I went on to join Storage Solutions as their director of business development. My job was to find alignment across revenue generating teams and develop BD strategy and a team to execute it. I had the pleasure of taking on marketing and CRM and joined their executive team a little over a year in. On the executive team, I gained so much insight and experience related to change management, acquisitions as Storage Solutions became a part of the Jungheinrich family and the integrator world. I’m really grateful for the Storage Solutions team who challenged me to gain new skills and lead at a level I hadn’t experienced.
You’re following in the footsteps of two different but equally impactful leaders, Jeannette Walker and Liz Richards. Having a connection to both former CEOs, what about their styles has impacted you the most?
Through my relationship with Liz, I truly learned how to develop, maintain and strengthen relationships. Liz would ask for an opinion, genuinely listen, and then bring that back to MHEDA to provide tangible resources to help solve that challenge. Then, Liz would personally guide our members to the resources to ensure they gained traction and momentum. Liz’s leadership was really inspiring and personally shaped my leadership style. She should teach a master class on value-driven relationships!
I knew Jeannette could bring a lot of value from her impressive career, including structure and process, helping position MHEDA at the forefront of change in our industry. I am grateful for Jeannette for many reasons, including providing me with a strong foundation to make my own impact. Jeannette and I are very aligned in many ways, including data driven decision-making. Intuition is still a part of the equation, but for MHEDA members to find value in our association, we must really understand what is driving them to participate. Engagement drives resources. Learning what our members do and don’t need is imperative to MHEDA’s future.
How would you describe your leadership style, and how has it evolved over your career?
For me, there are two words that come to mind when I think of my leadership style: transparency and empathy. To form a solid relationship, you need to be transparent about what you need, and you also need to ask the other person what they need. Transparency has helped me out in every point of my career to support people through change, whether a customer or employee, an industry vet or a newcomer, an outspoken leader or a quiet innovator – transparency in leadership is something I really believe in.
With empathy, you have to think about others’ experience. Leadership is about setting clear expectations, making sure people have the resources they need to be successful, and then opening that line of communication, so people can share and contribute in an environment of trust. With empathy you can let people try and fail, then pick back up with new insight and experience to try again.
If you could wave a magic wand and instantly solve one challenge for MHEDA members, what would it be?
I think the best way that I can answer that is to simplify the complexities that they’re experiencing on a day-to-day basis. From shifts in customer demand, to geopolitical and economic uncertainty, to recruiting, training and retaining good people – staying informed while being profitable is exhausting.
When I get overwhelmed with all the moving pieces, I tend to go back to framing challenges by people, process and technology.
We need to attract and develop great people, putting our industry in plain view, and give teams the tools and training to grow. I want to ensure MHEDA brings that value to our membership – from leadership development to workforce education. How can we help members build both practical skills and the confidence to lead?
When I think about process I think of efficiency, but I also think of strategy. From business communities to departments to individual roles, is MHEDA equipping members with ideas and tools to evolve? MHEDA should challenge our members to shake up the status quo and change to help their businesses thrive.
For technology, what tools or insight can MHEDA bring to our membership to help them stay in front of rapidly evolving tech and AI? It is not about replacing people but about embracing technology in a way that allows people to do what they do best, so people can focus more on relationships and connections. That human element will never go away, especially within MHEDA!
What do you see as some of your first-year priorities?
My early ideas and priorities are based on being a member and having that experience firsthand. My main priority is strengthening value for our members, and I think a lot of that will happen through our business communities – Industrial Truck, Storage & Handling and Systems Integrators. We’ll ramp up the development of content, resources and networking opportunities within each business community to support the evolution of MHEDA.
Expanding engagement is another major focus – not only by way of adding new member companies or having past member companies rejoin MHEDA but expanding the participation of current members. Making it easier for member companies to share MHEDA resources across their team, without carrying the burden of another thing to manage.
I also need to be in front of our members. Time is currency – that is something I learned at a MHEDA conference – and there is no substitute for being present. I want to connect with our diverse membership to gain perspective and better understand their needs. I also need to spend quality time with the dedicated MHEDA staff to help each person expand their impact and love for MHEDA.
MHEDA has been a massive part of my professional development. From my first Emerging Leaders Conference to Conventions, to leading a MHEDA-Net group and countless roundtables, to serving the Emerging Leaders Advisory Group, MHEDA has truly been the strongest influence in my career. I’m tremendously lucky and grateful that I can bring that same experience to other professionals.
