# Jett McCandless

> Jett McCandless is the founder and CEO of project44 and LSP44, and founder of Blue Water Companies. He began his logistics career in dispatch at Roadway Express in Portland, later worked as an executive and principal at GlobalTranz, and founded CarrierDirect, now Metafora. He founded project44 in 2014 and has expanded its work from transportation connectivity and visibility into decision intelligence and automated workflows.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at project44; Founder and CEO at LSP44
- **Organizations:** project44, LSP44, Blue Water Companies, Metafora (formerly CarrierDirect), GlobalTranz, Roadway Express, YRC Freight
- **Known for:** Founded project44 in 2014 and expanded its scope from freight connectivity into visibility and decision intelligence., Founded CarrierDirect, now Metafora, in 2011., Named a 2017 DC Velocity Rainmaker.

## Career timeline

- **1999** — Began working as a truck dispatcher in Portland; identifies his first logistics employer as Roadway Express.
- **2005-2006** — National Account Manager - Walmart at YRC Freight, according to his XING profile.
- **2006-2011** — Executive Vice President and Director at GlobalTranz, according to his XING profile.
- **2011** — Founded CarrierDirect, later renamed Metafora, and founded Blue Water Companies.
- **2014** — Founded project44 in Chicago.
- **2016** — Resigned as CarrierDirect CEO to focus full time on project44; Peter Rentschler succeeded him.
- **2017** — Named one of DC Velocity’s Rainmakers.
- **2022** — project44 raised $80 million in November at a reported $2.7 billion valuation.
- **2025** — Discussed Movement publicly in June; project44 launched Intelligent TMS in August.
- **2026** — Presented AI agent strategy at Decision44 in April; project44 launched Autopilot in May; announced LSP44 as a dedicated business in July.

## Achievements

- Founded project44 in 2014 and expanded its scope from freight connectivity into visibility and decision intelligence.
- Founded CarrierDirect, now Metafora, in 2011.
- Named a 2017 DC Velocity Rainmaker.
- Founded Blue Water Companies, an investment and philanthropic firm.
- Led project44 when its November 2022 funding round valued the company at $2.7 billion; this is a historical company valuation.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — In an October 9 interview with Joe Lynch, explained the project44 and LSP44 structure, shared infrastructure and separate customer focus.
- **2026-09** — A September 9 Founder Brew interview revisited his 1999 dispatch work and the importance of firsthand logistics experience.
- **2026-07** — Announced LSP44 as a dedicated business for logistics service providers on The Freight Pod, July 14.
- **2026-05** — project44 launched Autopilot, a configurable platform for supply chain agent workflows.
- **2026-04** — Presented project44’s AI agent strategy at Decision44 on April 9.

## Links

- Website: https://bwcompanies.com/about-jett-mccandless/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jett-mccandless-b16235119/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jettmccandless

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jett-mccandless
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20