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AIT Worldwide Logistics
AIT Worldwide Logistics, led by CEO Vaughn Moore, has been moving freight by air, ocean, and ground since 1979 as a top-30 North American forwarder.
AIT Worldwide Logistics
Daniel Moore founded AIT Worldwide Logistics outside Chicago in 1979, seizing the cargo-market opening created by the Airline Deregulation Act. The firm built its early reputation moving time-sensitive components for the automotive and industrial sectors, a heritage that still shapes its freight-mix decisions. Vaughn Moore, now president and CEO, has run the business since the mid-2010s, overseeing expansion across Asia and Europe through a combination of greenfield offices and selective acquisitions of in-country logistics firms. AIT operates as a non-asset-based freight forwarder, meaning it owns no ships or planes. Instead it runs a brokerage model: the firm plans multi-modal routes for customers—predominantly air, ocean, and less-than-truckload ground freight—and buys capacity from carriers at scale. Core verticals identified in its trade-compliance filings include automotive parts, aerospace components, perishable food logistics, and pharmaceutical cold-chain distribution. The acquisition of customs-brokerage desks in Southeast Asia and the Benelux region expanded its ability to offer bonded-warehouse clearance alongside forwarding, creating an integrated chain for clients like Tier 1 auto suppliers and medical-device manufacturers shipping into regulated end markets. Headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, the firm employs roughly 3,000 people across more than 100 offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, based on its own corporate disclosures. A private company since founding, AIT has received strategic capital from The Jordan Company, a middle-market private equity firm that took a majority stake in 2021. That deal, covered by FreightWaves in October 2021, provided liquidity to the Moore family while keeping Vaughn Moore in the CEO seat, signaling an institutionalization of the business that prepares it for further tuck-in acquisitions rather than near-term sale. AIT's structural distinction rests in its vertical-specific brokerage desks. Rather than running a generalist forwarding book, the firm stations dedicated teams inside customer supply chains—one desk might serve a single automotive OEM's just-in-time import lanes for years. That embedded approach builds switching costs that generic forwarders cannot easily replicate, making AIT function more like a contracted logistics arm than a transactional freight vendor.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1979
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Itasca
Corporate office
Itasca, IL, United States
Principals
Vaughn Moore
President and CEO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment and operational decisions at AIT Worldwide Logistics?
Vaughn Moore has served as President and CEO since the mid-2010s, per the firm's official communications. The Jordan Company, a middle-market private equity firm, acquired a majority stake in October 2021 (per FreightWaves, 2021), so major capital-allocation and M&A decisions now involve board-level input from the sponsor alongside the management team.
Is AIT Worldwide Logistics structured as a family office, or does it operate more like a traditional business?
AIT is an operating business, not a family office. It was founded by Daniel Moore in 1979 and remained family-controlled until The Jordan Company took a majority stake in 2021. It generates revenue by moving freight for enterprise clients and has no publicly known mandate to invest proprietary capital in external funds or direct deals—its capital base is tied up in the operating company.
How does AIT Worldwide Logistics source and serve its clients?
The firm runs a brokerage model, sourcing capacity from global air, ocean, and ground carriers by aggregating volume from mid-market shippers. Its differentiator is vertical-specific brokerage desks: dedicated teams embedded in the supply chains of automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and perishable-food clients handle route-planning, customs clearance, and bonded warehousing, often on a sole-sourced lane basis.
What is The Jordan Company's role in AIT's operations?
The Jordan Company acquired a majority stake in AIT in October 2021, providing liquidity to the Moore family. Vaughn Moore remained CEO, and the partnership is structured to support acquisition-led geographic expansion rather than rapid operational turnover. The Jordan Company typically holds middle-market industrial and logistics businesses for extended periods, a pattern consistent with AIT's post-2021 deal activity.
Does AIT own its own ships, planes, or truck fleets?
No. AIT is an asset-light freight forwarder. It does not own ships, aircraft, or trucking fleets. It buys freight capacity from carriers—commercial airlines, steamship lines, and trucking networks—and sells it to customers as part of a managed logistics package that includes customs brokerage, warehousing, and shipment tracking.
In which regions does AIT operate its own offices?
AIT has over 100 offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, per the firm's corporate materials. Its expansion pattern under CEO Vaughn Moore has emphasized greenfield offices and selected bolt-on acquisitions of in-country customs brokerages and logistics firms, with notable concentration in Southeast Asia and the Benelux region.
What vertical markets are core to AIT's forwarding business?
The firm concentrates on verticals that require high-touch logistics coordination: automotive components, aerospace parts, pharmaceutical cold-chain distribution, and perishable foods. Each vertical often has a dedicated brokerage desk, a structure that emerged from AIT's early work moving time-sensitive automotive parts for Tier 1 suppliers.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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