Our History
Gilco is an intermodal logistics company that has served the maritime industry since 1975. Gilco has worked with the Port of Virginia to transport goods from the port of Virginia nationwide. While the company has the infrastructure of any multinational trucking company, Gilco is a family-owned business with deep ties to Hampton Roads.
Celebrating 50 Years
Almost 50 years ago, Thomas Gilliland saw a need for quality, professional, and timely transportation services. In 1975, Tom founded Gilco Trucking. At the time, maritime transportation was inconsistent and inefficient. Gilco solved a major need for the Port of Virginia.
Shirley Gilliland Roebuck took ownership of Gilco and transformed the company to what it is today. One of Shirley’s crowning achievements was creating an environment where owner-operator drivers could “earn an honest wage”, breaking the ceiling for independent business owners in the community.
Shirley was widely respected as a titan of industry – earning her place as the first female member of The Propeller Club, and first female president of The Virginia Maritime Association. Shirley’s daughter, Vice President of Gilco, spoke highly of her mother’s leadership, “You could hear my mom screaming from down the street when she was on the phone protecting the rights of her workers.” Protecting workers rights and wages is at the foundation of Gilco.
Today, daughter Stacy Gilliland Bolen, her husband David Bolen, and their children Ryan Gilliland, Tony, Chuckie and Brea Bolen lead the company with the same integrity as Shirley began.
Who is Shirley Gilliland Roebuck
Shirley was born in Windsor, NC in 1940. When she was 12 years old, Shirley moved to Virginia Beach where she attended Princess Anne High School – growing deep ties to the Hampton Roads. After high school, Shirley studied at Keyes Business School – learning important management concepts she would use to expand Gilco trucking.
In 1960, Shirley married Tom Gilliland and their future abroad began. Tom was in the Navy, therefore, they traveled across the world over the next decade. Specifically, Tom and Shirley moved to Chicago, Cupi Point, Philippines, Jacksonville, Agana, Guam, Santa Ana, and Corpus Christi. Over their 13 years traveling, the young couple learned from every environment they were thrusted into. These cultural lessons deeply impacted the future of Gilco Trucking and Shirley’s passion for supporting her employees. In 1973, Tom decided to retire from the Navy and go back home to Virginia Beach, VA. A few years after moving back to Virginia, Tom and Shirley began their career in intermodal trucking.
The couple, along with her father William Smith Cowan, opened an agency for Atlantic Coast Express, a division of ACL. This experience gave Tom and Shirley insight and industry knowledge on trucking and advanced logistic management. A decade after opening their Atlantic Coast Express agency, as house carrier for Atlantic Container Line Shirley ventured off to create her own agency with Marine Freight Company based out of Baltimore, Maryland. While Shirley enjoyed her decade with Atlantic Coast Express, the entrepreneur spirit pushed her to new heights. The next fifteen years were dedicated to learning every aspect of intermodal logistics. From understanding the needs of the client, to gaining insight on how employees operate, Shirley gave her life to the business. Fast forward to 2000, Shirley decided to expand her operations by partnering with the TSS companies of Heber City Utah and Gilco Trucking was officially formed.
Today, Shirley has remarried to Ronald Roebuck and happily lives in Virginia Beach, VA. She has three daughters – Tammy Mullis, Kelly Long, and Stacey Gilliland; one stepdaughter Jennifer Roebuck; one stepson; eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandson. In addition to being a wife, mother, and grandmother, Shirley is a life-time member of the international Women’s Sorority Beta Sigma Phi. Throughout her travels, Shirley belonged to five chapters of the sorority, from the US to the Philippines, and all the way to Guam earning accolades along the way. Additionally, she was named, “Girl of the Year,” three separate times for her groundbreaking work in the industry.
Humble Beginnings
Shirley and Tom’s career in trucking started as an accident. Tom spent over a decade as an intelligence officer for the Navy. After retirement, Tom took the first job he found – a part-time job trucking position at Turner Express. Almost immediately, Tom saw the opportunity to succeed in the industry. Within two weeks, he called Shirley and expressed his aspirations of owning his own truck.
At first, Shirley did not understand how Tom was going to learn the ropes quick enough to become an established truck driver. However, her father would go on and teach Tom how to operate a heavy-duty truck and the rest is history. After two months of training, Tom was hired as an owner operator for Atlantic Coast Express – an extension of Atlantic Container Express.
Atlantic Coast Line was on the brink of closing their Hampton Roads terminal; however, Tom was able to convince them to not only keep it running but let him operate the trucking line. Tom was smart, hardworking, and ambitious – driving him to new heights for Atlantic Coast Line.
With that said, a major challenge for Tom’s business was bookkeeping. Once he called his wife, stating all his checks were bouncing and they did not have enough cash to cover the bills. Shirley drove directly to the office and straightened out the books in one night. Since that moment, Shirley has never left the company. In her own words, “I came out to straighten out the book. That was March 15, 1975. I’m still here. I started out keeping the books, and then I started learning how to do the quotes and he went out and started selling – it just went on and on.” By 1986, Shirley had 64 trucks in rotation and the business was not slowing down.
Being a woman manager in the trucking industry was a major barrier for Shirley. Often, she was overlooked and undervalued. However, her industry knowledge and grit set her business apart from other local intermodal trucking companies. In the 1980’s, Virginia International Terminal would set up large meetings to inform truckers about upcoming changes to VIT. Often, Shirley was the only woman in the room. Furthermore, she would never back down from asking a question or dialoguing with other industry leaders. Every VIT meeting, the chairman would ask if anyone had questions; time and time again, Shirley was the only one asking questions, engaging the leaders and creating positive change.
Shirley describes this environment as a room full of good ol’ boys and she was a fly. They wanted to swat at her until she went away. Thankfully, Shirley never backed down from a challenge. For many, it was hard to accept new people, much less a little woman that was not afraid to speak her mind. A lot of the internal conflict was rooted in insecurity. Many truckers thought Shirley was gunning for their jobs. However, over the years, many people learned Shirley was not a malicious person. Inversely, she wanted to learn what was necessary to support her employees. Through her time on the VIT board, she met allies that helped push for positive change in the trucking industry. This experience shaped how Shirley operated her business and gave her the boldness to continue to expand her operation. When she first started, Shirley’s father claimed she would go broke trying to haul cargo containers. Almost 50 years later, Shirley has proved her father wrong and, in her words, “still surviving.”
All in all, Gilco Trucking has come a long way from a one truck operation. Thanks to Shirley Gilliland-Roebuck, Gilco has a firm foundation that has no intention of slowing down. Today, Stacey Gilliland-Bolen and David Bolen run the company with the same Integrity as Shirley.