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Eric Meek

Managing Director, Transportation & Logistics M&A Advisor at Ridgefield Partners

Indianapolis, IN, US

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Why they matter

A 20-year transportation operator turned M&A advisor who has personally closed 20+ freight/3PL deals as both buyer and seller, with two closed sell-side sales in 2025 alone.

Background

Eric Meek is a Managing Director and Transportation & Logistics M&A Advisor at Ridgefield Partners, bringing more than 20 years of experience across investment banking, public audit, transportation & logistics, insurance, and technology. Before moving into investment banking, he held senior executive roles at transportation companies and has personally participated in over 20 transportation acquisitions as both buyer and seller. He holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting from Franklin College.

Notable deals

  • 2025
    Led Ridgefield Partners' advisory team as exclusive sell-side advisor for Dedicated Carriers, Inc. (DCI), a multimodal OTR 3PL, in its sale to Ready-2-Xecute (R2X)
  • 2025
    Led Ridgefield Partners' advisory team on the sale of Hometown Logistics, LLC to FitzMark, a Calera Capital portfolio company

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Managing Director at Ridgefield Partners, focused exclusively on Transportation & Logistics M&A
  • 20+ years spanning investment banking, public audit, transportation & logistics operations, insurance, and technology
  • Operating background: held senior executive roles inside transportation companies before moving to advisory, giving him buyer-and-seller credibility rather than pure banker positioning
  • Accounting degree, Franklin College; based in Indianapolis, IN

Current focus

  • Sell-side and buy-side advisory for freight brokerage, OTR/multimodal 3PL, and expedited logistics companies
  • Closed two named sell-side transactions in 2025 (Dedicated Carriers → Ready-2-Xecute; Hometown Logistics → FitzMark/Calera Capital), suggesting an active current deal pipeline in the 3PL consolidation wave

What he cares about

  • Culture and values alignment between buyer/seller teams, not just price (per his own quote on the DCI/R2X deal)
  • Speed to a clean, timely close once the right partner is identified
  • Positioning smaller/family-run 3PL operators for a well-matched strategic or PE-backed acquirer

Potential sensitivities

  • Confidentiality around any live sell-side mandates; avoid asking him to name current clients
  • He is advisor-side, not principal — frame outreach around deal flow and market intelligence, not asking him to transact directly

Questions to ask

  • Which freight brokerage/3PL sub-segments are seeing the most acquirer demand right now, and where is multiple compression or expansion happening?
  • What did the Dedicated Carriers → Ready-2-Xecute process reveal about how PE-backed 3PL platforms are evaluating tuck-in targets in 2025?
  • Does he have a near-term pipeline of sell-side mandates that could fit a thesis around freight brokerage or asset-light 3PL roll-ups?

Outreach draft

Subject
Freight brokerage M&A perspective — quick call?
Hi Eric, I came across Ridgefield Partners' recent work on the Dedicated Carriers/Ready-2-Xecute and Hometown Logistics/FitzMark transactions and wanted to reach out. We're a private equity team building a thesis around freight brokerage and asset-light 3PL consolidation, and given your background as both an operator and advisor in this space, your read on where deal activity and valuations are heading would be extremely valuable. Would you be open to a 20-30 minute call in the next couple of weeks? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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