Former USA Truck CEO James Reed is looking forward to new opportunities after being named operating partner of Banner Capital, a private equity firm in Salt Lake City.
Reed led USA Truck of Van Buren from 2017 until it was acquired by German logistics giant DB Schenker in the summer of 2022. After the acquisition was finalized, Reed left the company to become COO of Kodiak Robotics in Mountain View, California.
Reed left that position after a little more than a year — he remains on the board of directors at Kodiak — to become vice president of transportation at Walmart Inc. of Bentonville. His last day with Walmart was in early May.
“We’re building an industrial platform of companies in that kind of traditional infrastructure space, things like HVAC and roofing and roads and things like that,” Reed said of Banner Capital. “So I’m pretty excited about that. I have a lot of cool stuff going on.”
The equity firm is based in Utah, where Reed earned an MBA from Brigham Young University.
But Reed is adamant that he isn’t relocating from the home he made just outside Van Buren. “I live in Uniontown, Arkansas, and that’s not changing,” Reed said. “We are Arkansans. We love it.”
Banner Capital is led by Tanner Ainge, the son of former NBA player and current executive Danny Ainge. (Both Ainges are BYU graduates, as well.)
Reed learned about Banner Capital when he and his wife, Kresta, made some profitable investments with the group. “[We made] a couple of investments and had done really well,” Reed said. “So I trust their management team a lot. I also really liked the idea of being able to take the experiences that I had at USA Truck and Interstate [Interstate Distributor Co.] before that and all my tech experience and maybe apply that in a more high-paced environment.”
Banner Capital has more than $650 million in assets under management and focuses on upscaling family- and founder-owned businesses.
“I’d say smaller middle market, helping families and founders transition [and go] upmarket,” Reed said. “From a finance standpoint, it gives me a chance to pure play, apply mathematics to arbitrage EBITDA multiples and create value by combining companies that are worth more together than they are apart. So, for sure, it scratches that itch for me.”
Reed will also lead the company’s Western Pavement Services subsidiary as executive chairman.
“We’re thrilled to welcome James to our team,” Tanner Ainge said. “At Banner, our top priority is to be true partners — supporting management teams with new challenges while preserving the unique characteristics that have made them successful historically. That means taking a collaborative and customized approach to value creation. James brings the experience, humility and leadership style that aligns with this philosophy.”
Reed said he enjoyed his time at Walmart and learned a great deal. He said Walmart’s attention and care for its employees were unsurpassed, a sentiment he shares from his time dealing with drivers at USA Truck.
“I absolutely love what I guess I’d call the frontline worker, the people, you know, punching the clock every day, doing the hard work,” Reed said. “I just so admire the people like truck drivers who run the American economy. To a lot of us they are invisible, but not to me.
“I would say I learned the same thing at Walmart. Walmart’s love for their frontline associates is maybe the thing that most resonates with me.”
Leaving Walmart, though, gives Reed a chance to act more directly.
“In private equity, I’m making the decisions on these platforms. I’m buying these companies, they’re going to succeed or fail based on the work that the team and I put in,” Reed said. “Some people have mistakenly assumed, ‘Oh, you want to be in charge.’ And that’s not it at all. I just want to make an impact.”
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