David R. Goodson, MBA

Biography

David R. Goodson is President of Class 8 Solutions, the freight and fleet consulting practice he has run from Tacoma, Washington since January 1998, serving shippers, carriers, and private-equity portfolio companies both directly and as a contracted specialist for larger consultancies. Before consulting full time he was Vice President of Transportation at Michaels Stores (August 2005 to December 2007), where he managed a $180M freight budget spanning parcel, LTL, truckload, intermodal, dedicated fleet, and $80M of ocean freight; he led an organization of 31 across five distribution centers, oversaw ocean imports and customs clearance on roughly 17,000 containers a year, and reports rate reductions of 8 to 25 percent on carrier contracts and $8M eliminated through TMS optimization. He came into that role from KPMG, where he was Director of the National Supply Chain Practice (January 2002 to August 2005), leading transportation cost-reduction and network studies for retail, manufacturing, and food-processing clients and serving as a subject matter expert on a Department of Defense domestic logistics load-center initiative. From January 2009 to December 2013 he was Managing Director, Logistics at Cavallino Consulting LLC in San Francisco. Earlier in his career he reports three senior operating roles with motor carriers, all of which predate his online employment record: Vice President and General Manager for Canadian Operations at Challenger Motor Freight from 1990 to 1992, reporting to president and owner Dan Einwechter; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Transport America (Transport Corporation of America) of Eagan, Minnesota from 1992 to 1994, reporting to founder and chief executive Jim Aronson; and General Manager at North Star Transport from 1994 to 1996, reporting to owners Bill Hagan and John Miller. His consulting work centers on freight cost reduction across every mode — parcel, LTL, truckload, intermodal, ocean, air, and dedicated fleet — together with mode selection, carrier matching, TMS optimization, shipment consolidation, route planning, and network design. A recurring thread is forensic freight audit: he reports recovering $1.9M in vendor freight overcharges at Charter Communications and $5M in refunds at Kaiser Permanente. He reports sourcing more than $1 billion in freight across some 60 clients in retail, manufacturing, food processing, healthcare, and energy. Goodson holds a Master of Management (MBA) from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, where his coursework covered transportation, operations research, and marketing, and a BA in Economics from Macalester College. He holds no board certifications. As an expert witness he reports ten engagements to date and two arbitration testimonies: March 31, 2023 for the defense in a trucking trade-secrets matter, and August 15, 2025 for the plaintiff in a dispute over denial of port access. His subject areas are cargo securement and broker liability, freight forwarder delivery failure, carrier performance, hazardous goods capacity, truck terminal safety, freight rates and freight audit, overweight charges, GPS route mapping, and driver recruiting and wages. Location: Tacoma, WA (Greater Seattle).

Credentials & Certifications

• MBA (Master of Management), Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
• BA, Economics, Macalester College
• No board certifications (self-reported)

Case Experience

• Ten expert witness engagements to date
• Arbitration testimony, March 31, 2023 — defense, trade secrets in trucking
• Arbitration testimony, August 15, 2025 — plaintiff, denial of port access

Fee Schedule

Related Reading

• How to Vet an Expert Witness: A Qualifications Checklist
• The 2026 Expert Witness Fee Guide

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