Mariner Logistics has named Justin Turner chief executive officer, placing a supply chain technology veteran with a decade of brokerage and freight-tech scaling experience in charge of a Coppell, Texas-based asset-backed fourth-party logistics (4PL) operation, according to FreightWaves. Turner, who most recently served as chief commercial officer at EV charging developer Terawatt, takes over a company that runs trucks, warehouses, managed transportation and its own technology stack under one roof, serving manufacturing, aerospace and defense customers along with a growing book of data center freight.
From Coyote dispatcher to Mariner CEO
FreightWaves reported that Turner's career began in a freight brokerage floor, where he was an early employee at Coyote Logistics, starting as a dispatcher tracking and tracing shipments every day. He spent seven years at Coyote, including a central leadership role through the company's $1.8 billion acquisition by UPS. He then moved to GlobalTranz as vice president of sales, and later led sales and customer success at Atlanta-based STORD. As chief revenue officer at Flock Freight, he helped scale revenue from roughly $10 million to more than $500 million while the company raised more than $400 million in venture capital. Before Mariner, he was chief commercial officer at Terawatt, an EV charging developer for Class 8 trucks. He began his logistics career in the U.S. Army.
The table below summarizes his career progression:
| Company | Role | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| Coyote Logistics | Dispatcher, early employee | Central role through UPS's $1.8B acquisition; 7 years |
| GlobalTranz | Vice President of Sales | — |
| STORD (Atlanta) | Sales & Customer Success lead | — |
| Flock Freight | Chief Revenue Officer | Revenue scaled from ~$10M to >$500M; >$400M raised |
| Terawatt | Chief Commercial Officer | EV charging developer for Class 8 trucks |
| Mariner Logistics | CEO | Current role |
Turner described Mariner's positioning:
Mariner has built something rare in this industry: an asset-backed 4PL with a real infrastructure, real warehouses, and the verification and visibility technology shippers now demand.
Sentinel Protocol: constant carrier vetting
One of the key programs Turner inherits is Sentinel Protocol, Mariner's multi-source carrier and driver verification standard, which FreightWaves reported started as a cargo security requirement rather than a legal one. "We have some work today that we focus on in high-value, high-security freight. And because of that, we built Sentinel because it's just a requirement," Turner told FreightWaves. "When you're dealing with cargo values in the millions, you need to have a real protocol for how you handle chain of command."
Sentinel applies to every shipment Mariner coordinates and requires more than a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rating pulled at booking. "It's not just a check-in and FMCSA safety rating," Turner said. Instead, Sentinel timestamps due diligence across the life of the load rather than at the point of sale.
Mariner scores carriers and lanes continuously, not once at signup. "We're pulling live data from multiple intelligence sources. So a carrier or a lane isn't scored once and forgotten. It's a constant update," Turner said. Automation handles the volume but not the judgment. "The vast majority of the qualification process that we have today happens without a human touching them, but then there's a really meaningful portion where a person has to sign off. And that stuff matters," he said.
Vibe Engine, Mariner Live, and owned assets
A second investment, the Vibe Engine, is an artificial intelligence layer built with Vibe Software that plugs into shippers' existing systems to automate spot procurement and carrier matching. Both feed Mariner Live, the company's visibility platform, according to FreightWaves.
Mariner's physical footprint is substantial: more than 300 owned tractors, more than 800 owned trailers, and 1 million square feet of warehouse space. Turner said the tractors run through sister company Gulf Relay, a Clinton, Miss.-based carrier founded in 2010, and put the Dallas/Fort Worth warehouse footprint at 1.5 million square feet. The warehouses serve healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, government and technology clients, with the freight mix tilted toward heavy industry.
"We support a variety of industries from manufacturing, industrial goods, aerospace and defense. We have some work that we do with the data center space," Turner said, adding that Mariner's differentiator is the combination of owned assets and real infrastructure built on its technology.
What shippers and operators should watch
For freight forwarders and logistics managers, Turner's appointment signals continued investment in automated carrier qualification and AI-led spot procurement. The Sentinel Protocol model — continuous scoring with human sign-off on meaningful exceptions — sets a benchmark for how asset-backed 4PLs validate capacity, according to Turner's comments. Shippers evaluating Mariner as a provider should expect real-time visibility through Mariner Live and AI-powered matching through the Vibe Engine, both already feeding the platform.
Watch list
- Turner's revenue-growth record at Flock Freight — from roughly $10 million to more than $500 million — sets a benchmark for Mariner's next phase.
- The pace of Vibe Engine adoption across shippers' existing systems, which FreightWaves reported is now live.
- How Sentinel Protocol scales as the data center freight book grows.
- Gulf Relay fleet operations, which run Mariner's 300+ tractors, and their impact on capacity for the combined entity.
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