Ryan Donovan

President States Logistics Services, Inc.

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Ryan Donovan is president of States Logistics Services, an employee-owned third-party logistics provider based in Buena Park, California, which runs warehousing, transportation, packaging and transloading operations across Southern California and Arizona. The company, founded in 1958 as a one-warehouse trucking business, has named him president in its announcements since at least 2017, and it works under a separate chief executive, Daniel Monson. His public profile at the company centres on safety and warehouse technology: AI-based forklift monitoring, robotic container unloading and automation for food and consumer packaged goods.

Career Highlights

• President of States Logistics Services, identified as such by the company in 2017 and twice in 2023.
• Spoke for the company when it received the American Logistics Aid Network’s inaugural humanitarian award for employee engagement in 2017.
• Quoted by the company on OneTrack.AI forklift safety monitoring, deployed in 2023, which States reports reduced phone-use violations by 99% and impact events by 16.67%.
• Presented with OneTrack on building world-class warehouse operations through innovation in 2024.
• Wrote the company’s December 2025 piece on robotics and automation in West Coast CPG fulfillment.

Professional Journey

States Logistics was founded in 1958 by Richard and Jewel May in Vernon, California, with one warehouse and two customers. It expanded into Orange County with the Dolly Avenue warehouse in 1977, into Phoenix in 1986, and through larger sites in Walnut, Ontario and, from 2016, Fontana. In 2003 it established an employee stock ownership plan, and it now describes itself as an employee-owned company.

Donovan appears as president in the company’s own announcements from 2017 onward. That year, when the American Logistics Aid Network, the supply-chain disaster relief organisation formed after Hurricane Katrina, gave States its inaugural humanitarian award for employee engagement, he credited the staff’s volunteer work: “Tremendous work by all – it makes me very proud to work with such compassionate and wonderful people!”

Much of his more recent public work concerns technology in the warehouse. In 2023 States deployed OneTrack.AI’s camera-based monitoring on its forklift fleet, and Donovan framed it as a safety measure: “Our commitment is unwavering in ensuring the safety of our workforce while delivering excellence in our operations.” The company reported a 99% reduction in phone-use violations and a 71.5% improvement in its overall safety-event trend. In 2024 he joined OneTrack’s Nick Palczynski to present on building world-class warehouse operations through innovation. States has since added AI-powered robotic unloading of floor-loaded containers with Contoro Robotics (2024), and voice-enabled picking and autonomous forklifts with Humro (2025).

In the company’s 65th-anniversary post in 2023 he described the milestone as a testament to its commitment to excellence and to creating value for customers. In December 2025 he wrote the company’s analysis of why West Coast warehouses serving consumer packaged goods brands need automation, given the volume of imports passing through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Education

No education record was found in the sources reviewed.