People You Need to Know: Chad Carleton

Chad Carleton says his business philosophy is simply a happy customer, and Good Company appears to be delivering on that notion. 

“If the north star is a happy recipient, then all of our incentives are aligned with that of our clients,” he says, noting the company he founded has a couple dozen clients. 

His philosophy is paying off, as reported previously reported by Springfield Business Journal. The company had $1 million in business in 2021, then $3.5 million in 2022, $7 million in 2023, $15 million in 2024 and $31 million in 2025.  

“We grew 100% year over year for the last five consecutive years,” Carleton says, noting he wouldn’t be surprised “if we came close” to that marker in 2026. “That’s been exclusively referral-based business.” 

Carleton says working in the third-party fulfillment industry, or 3PL for short, Good Company has been in the position to be picky with clients because of the high demand for the company’s services. Good Company chooses clients to which it can deliver high quality, he says. 

“That flywheel has spun very quickly,” Carleton says. 

Born and raised in Springfield, Carleton says it made sense to build the company where he’s from.  

“There’s a business case to be made, in fact a very compelling one, for Springfield being a logistics hub,” he says.  

He points to population trends that put Springfield in an opportune place. Additionally, Springfield is “directly injecting” into major hubs such as Chicago and Dallas, he says.  

Good Company is poised to capitalize in that scenario, he says. 

“Every brand and every consumer wants faster, better and cheaper. Usually you can only pick two,” Carleton says. “I think we’re the only place in America that gets all three.” 

That puts Good Company in a good position when it’s competing with other 3PLs on the coasts. 

“I would say that Kansas City and Dallas could make similar claims, but the cost to operate is higher,” he says. “Springfield is a faster and better place to operate, while also being cheaper than the major metropolitans.” 

Carleton says one benefit of Good Company’s growth is the opportunities it provides for its nearly 200 employees. He says “the number of lives that we’re able to affect” is his greatest accomplishment in operating Good Company. 

“What we’ve done here is take a group of very deserving, very hardworking people and given them the opportunity to succeed,” he says. 

He says watching employees get out of debt, buy a house, have children and put themselves through college are examples of accomplishments that he finds particularly rewarding. 

Carleton says “servant leadership” guides him through the growth at Good Company. 

He says “hiring extremely capable people and making my job exclusively ensuring that they have the support they need to proceed” is an example of that leadership style. 

Looking back on his career, Carleton recalls organizing 1 Million Cups Springfield as one of his top achievements and sources of insight. 

“I was able to find that people who take great care to build the communities in which they reside, truly have a mindset of abundance and genuine desire to help others win,” he says. “As much as I aim to contribute or be a contributor to that, we’ve also been on the receiving end of endless generosity from a whole lot of people that have helped us succeed.”