Like many others, Romaine Seguin’s perspective shifted during the height of the pandemic. As president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding, she was managing tens of thousands of frontline employees, working to deliver critical supplies like vaccines and personal protective equipment. “We all saw the stories… and [I realized] this is bigger than business; this is bigger than earnings per share. This is just unbelievable,” she says.
Seguin wanted to give back. After spending 38 years with UPS, she joined Good360 and served as CEO from 2022 to 2024, when she decided to pursue other ventures. In 2023, due to her leadership, Good360 was named No. 2 on Forbes’ America’s Top 100 Charities list.
Starting out
When she began her first job at 23 years old, Seguin never imagined she would spend nearly four decades with the same company. “I was an athlete in college, and I wanted to stay in shape, so I started working at UPS, unloading trailers at 3:30 in the morning,” she recalls. Once Seguin’s superiors realized she had a degree in marketing management, they pushed her toward a management track. “That’s how I got started, and the rest is history,” she says. “I started to stay in shape, and then one thing led to another.”
Seguin held 22 different positions throughout her 38-year tenure with the company. Ultimately, she became the president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding, honing her global supply chain and logistics expertise. She oversaw air, ocean and rail-freight forwarding as well as brokerage and supplier management for 220 countries and territories around the world. Even during the economic challenges of COVID-19, her work resulted in double-digit growth.
A shift in perspective and purpose
Managing a major, essential company during a complex time made her think about her next chapter. Seguin, who’d sat on nonprofit boards, wanted to do something to give back.
That’s when she got the call. A couple of board members from Good360 contacted her about filling the role of chief executive officer. Good360, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a global leader in product philanthropy and purposeful giving, serving nonprofit organizations by giving them access to product donations that allow them to run their programs more efficiently and sustainably.
In December 2021, she retired from UPS and took on this leadership role—the new challenge she was craving. She spent nearly 40 years managing package delivery. At Good360, she led an organization that rescues and redistributes returned goods that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Making a difference
Most people don’t realize how many consumer products are returned every year. In 2022, 9.5 billion pounds of returns ended up in landfills, according to Optoro, a technology company that helps retailers and brands manage returned and excess inventory. Yet, nearly half of households in the country cannot afford basic essentials, like personal care products, cleaning products, clothing and household goods.
Over the past 40 years, Good360 has worked with over 400 corporate partners and 100,000 nonprofit members to distribute over $18 billion worth of products that could have otherwise ended up in landfills, filling the gap between what is available and what millions of people need. These products come from major retail partners, including Amazon, Disney, Macy’s and more. So far, Good360 has positively impacted over 100 million people globally.
Seguin is proud of the work she and her nearly 80 colleagues have accomplished. “It’s all about serving the underserved communities and making sure product gets out to someone [who] needs a pair of shoes or someone [who] needs a mattress, someone [who] needs a jacket on their shoulders at night,” she says. Good360 helps companies solve a business problem by getting an overabundance of products into the hands of nonprofits that serve their communities, Seguin says.
Environmental benefits
These efforts have resulted in incredible environmental benefits as well. The group’s 2023 Impact Report highlights how 156 million pounds of total weight of products were diverted from landfills over the years. “[The organization is] all about people and planet,” Seguin says. “[Good360 wants] to take care of people, but also just as importantly, [they] want to take care of the planet. [They] don’t want a pair of shoes ending up in a landfill. [They] don’t want a soccer ball ending up in a landfill because [they] can put it to use in underserved communities.”
Good360 makes a difference in the least wasteful way possible. The network of warehouses is designed to place goods where they are needed, when they are needed and as locally as possible to minimize travel time and carbon emissions.
Seguin was especially excited about Good360 programs in motion. Advance Auto Parts partnered with Good360 to provide excess products to nonprofits that train mechanics. “They have a place to donate their products that could teach people,” she says. “It is a full circle.”
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of SUCCESS Magazine.
Photo courtesy of Good360