The Founders of TFI
Daniel L. Gardner
Daniel L. Gardner is President and co-founder of Trade Facilitators, Inc. Prior to establishing TFI Mr. Gardner spent twenty one years in the Third Party Logistics field where he held senior management positions with Fritz Companies and DHL Global Forwarding.
In addition to his professional experience Dan has been an adjunct professor of logistics and supply chain management in the graduate business schools of Florida International University and The University of Miami. During the 2001-2002 academic year Mr. Gardner was voted “Top Professor” by the students in the Masters of International Business Program at FIU.
A native of Lynn, Massachusetts, Dan holds an MBA from The University of Miami and has been a licensed customhouse broker in the U.S. since 1989. Additionally, he is a Black Belt in Six Sigma, holds a Certification in Production & Inventory Management with APICS and is certified as a Physical Security Professional by The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).
The writer of several papers and articles, Dan's work has appeared in The Journal of Commerce, APICS Magazine, Traffic World and Inbound Logistics Magazine. He is also author of the book Supply Chain Vector: Methods for Linking the Execution of Global Business Models with Financial Performance (J Ross Publishing) and the work of fiction Tortoise Riskies (Vantage Press).
M. Patricia Gardner
M. Patricia Gardner is Executive Vice President and co-founder of Trade Facilitators, Inc. Born in Medellín, Colombia, Patricia began her career with the consulting firm Centro de Gerencia Estratégico where she developed strategic plans and performance metrics for Fortune 1000 companies throughout Latin America. Upon moving to the United States in 1994, Ms. Gardner spent seven years as a Project Manager with Arthur Andersen.
A specialist in Customer Satisfaction and Process Design, Patricia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Bacteriology from the La Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, a Masters Degree in Marketing from Los Andes University and is a Graduate of The Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development.