Host: Annik Sobing
Guest: Chris Bachinnski, Co‑CEO & President, GHY International
Published: March 2026
Length: ~35 minutes
Presented by: Global Training Center

Annik sits down with Chris Bachinnski, Co‑CEO and President of GHY International, for a leadership‑focused conversation on what it really takes to build and sustain a customs brokerage and trade business in a volatile, tech‑driven environment. Starting from sweeping floors in his dad’s trucking company at age 12 to leading a 100+ year‑old firm, Chris shares how work ethic, curiosity, and culture have shaped his career across transportation, marketing, and now trade.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Chris’s unconventional path to trade
- Grew up in trucking, bought his dad’s company in his 20s, then sold into a publicly traded roll‑up and learned the pros/cons of “quarterly mindset.”
- Shifted into a small marketing agency as CFO/COO, where he discovered the tight link between brand and culture and began doing leadership/culture training for clients.
- GHY first hired his firm for branding and leadership work; later, owner Rick Reeseinvited him in as President specifically for his leadership and culture skills, not customs expertise.
Designing and changing culture on purpose
- Chris interviewed all 105 GHY associates in his first 6–7 months just to listen, then worked with leadership to define: what must never change, what needs to improve, and which behaviors will be tolerated.
- His core belief: “Culture is the result of the behaviors you permit”—leaders must live values first, then hold people accountable, even when that means making hard calls on long‑tenured but misaligned employees.
From operator to enterprise‑level leader
- With GHY now ~245–250 people, Chris’s CEO coach pushed him to stop being involved in everything and focus on: looking around the corner, aligning the organization, and holding leaders accountable.
- He still stays grounded by walking the office daily, restarting one‑on‑one interviews with staff after 10 years, and sharing results from his annual leadership feedback survey with the entire company.
Leading through uncertainty and mistakes
- In COVID and the recent tariff/trade waves, GHY leaned into two non‑negotiables: care for people and care for clients, avoiding knee‑jerk layoffs and thinking long‑term even after a “spooked” decision in early 2025.
- On errors, Chris rejects the “I let people make mistakes so they learn” line as arrogant; instead, he tells the story of a six‑figure error where GHY refused a resignation, treated it as (expensive) education, and moved forward.
Advice for aspiring leaders
- Chris distinguishes between title‑driven leaders and those who see leadership as stewardship: taking what’s been entrusted, making it better, and protecting it for the future.
- His core advice: cultivate insatiable curiosity, ask lots of questions, seek mentors, practice empathy (especially now, with stressed employees and customers), and avoid short‑term, fear‑based decisions.
Tech, AI, and the future of brokerage
- Chris is candid with his board that technology is the one thing he least wants to under‑estimate; the impact he thought was 5–10 years out is arriving much faster.
- GHY’s focus: embrace technology plus process improvement not as a headcount weapon, but as a tool to make people better, improve accuracy, and help clients succeed—constantly questioning “we’ve always done it this way.”

Credits
Host: Annik Sobing
Guest: Chris Bachinnski (Co‑CEO & President, GHY International)
Producer: Annik Sobing

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