What he got was the rock on which he


could build U.S. Xpress, the foundation for the house he would eventually construct of technology and innovation. While at Southwest Motor Freight,


Fuller bought the company a computer database, to his father’s dismay. “When he found out I had committed


to buy an IBM computer, that was the end of the world,” he remembers. Fuller’s youth was his advantage.


Where his competitors — most his father’s age — were slow to come around to elec- tronic logistics, he didn’t fear the coming change; he harnessed it. Long before Chattanooga became the


Gig City of startups and scruffy entrepre- neurs, Fuller was implementing technology in unsexy ways in an unsexy industry. He helped pioneer GPS and satellite tracking for commercial truck fleets. He was an early adopter of automatic transmissions on com- mercial trucks. Fuller had researchers at The Sim


Center at UTC study the aerodynamics of tractors and helped pioneer fuel-saving side skirts for trailers. Many of U.S. Xpress’ in- novations have been widely adopted by the commercial trucking industry.


He says now that risking the innova-


tions allowed U.S. Xpress to leap 25 years ahead of its competitors. And it’s been the rampant contentment of the trucking indus- try driving him all these years to do the job better, faster and more efficiently. “It’s really the frustration that the


industry has been so slow to adopt new technology,” he said. Fuller’s forward-thinking outlook and


willingness to embrace innovation are what landed him on the AACSB list of the 100 most influential business school graduates. “We’re looking for innovators, which I


know Max has been in the industry,” said Dan LeClair, executive vice president and chief operating officer at AACSB Interna- tional, a group devoted to recognizing and promoting accredited education. AACSB-accredited schools were asked


to nominate a graduate who fit the criteria of an influential leader. LeClair said AACSB received almost 200 nominations, from 125 schools in 25 countries. “It was quite a bit more competitive


than I thought it would be,” he said. Among those named to the top 100 list


are leaders in all arenas, including govern- ment, business, non-profits and even mili-


HONOR THAT MAX HAS BEEN INCLUDED ON THAT LIST. MAX EXEMPLIFIES THE


“FOR US, IT’S A TREMENDOUS


TYPE OF STUDENT THAT UTC IS GRADUATING.”


—DEAN ROBERT DOOLEY, UTC COLLEGE OF BUSINESS


tary. Selection was not limited to those who simply rose in the ranks in the corporate world. “It’s easy for us to find people who are


CEOs,” said LeClair. “It was harder and more important for us to identify the people like Max who were trailblazers.”


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