The road ahead: Bradley H Feldmann
Neology Chairman and CEO Bradley H Feldmann has spent his whole career successfully rewriting the leadership rule book, and now AI is helping him do precisely that for road tolls and vehicle enforcement.
Bradley H Feldmann doesn’t believe in wasting time or settling into a ‘business as usual’ mindset. His track record transforming a series of major corporations is testament to his curiosity about what might be possible, coupled with a tenacity to push boundaries and set himself wildly ambitious targets.
That’s certainly what he’s been doing at mobility solutions provider, Neology, since 2022, achieving record-breaking growth and launching a series of cutting-edge innovations in the sphere of highway tolling, payment processing and enforcement techniques. But this isn’t the first time he’s hit the corporate ground running.
When he took over as CEO of security specialist UsProtect Corp in 2005, it took him just a year to double the value of the business to US$200 million and increase margins by 50 percent. Next, he rebuilt security firm OMNIPLEX from bankruptcy to achieve 12 percent EBITDA within 12 months.
"We do the right thing and keep our promises to one another."
After that, Feldmann turned his attention to Cubic Defense Systems where he grew the business from US$285 million to US$400 million, earning a promotion to run Cubic Corporation where he oversaw 11 acquisitions that helped turbocharge its enterprise value by 169 percent and attract orders worth over US$2.5 billion.
After the successful sale of Cubic to private equity firm Veritas for approximately 20 times enterprise value and EBITDA, Feldmann joined Neology to establish a strategy for global growth.
"I’ve been here two years and, in that time, we’ve grown the company substantially from about US$30 million in turnover to a run rate of around US$100 million," he says. "We’ve recently signed contracts valued at around US$600 million. I’m very action-oriented, always thinking about how to move things to the next step."
Advanced tolling solutions
Neology improves mobility in the communities it serves and, in doing so, accelerates the formation of smart cities with advanced transport functionality. Its industry-leading tolling mechanisms, payment platforms and vehicle data capture systems play a key role in creating safer highways and reducing congestion.
In total, it has deployed 130 million transponders that manage 15,000 toll devices and monitor 5,000 lanes of traffic. Every year, it deals with more than 320 million toll transactions worth US$1.6 billion.
And as its products are built on a modular, open architecture, it’s quick and easy to install updates or system reconfigurations when a customer’s circumstances change or a new function becomes available.
"I’ve often said I’m in the happiness business," Feldmann says with a smile. "There are three groups I want to make happy in this order: employees, customers and shareholders. To be successful, I have to deliver benefits to all three.
"To do that, we work as a diverse team and create safe environments for everyone to flourish. We do the right thing and keep our promises to one another."
"I’m in the happiness business. There are three groups I want to make happy in this order: employees, customers and shareholders."
Among those promises is to accelerate Neology’s tradition of innovation, inventing and distributing groundbreaking products, a history that has seen it amass more than 500 patents for toll technologies, including cameras equipped with AI and a multi-protocol reader that can collect data from cars traveling at up to 129 kilometers per hour and respond to them in just 120 milliseconds, meaning every single vehicle is securely logged.
"Tolling in the United States collects about US$25 billion a year, but around 20 percent of that is lost to revenue leakage," Feldmann explains. "Our devices are helping customers retain some of those monies without any reduction in the quality of customer experience."
Enhanced capabilities
Another game-changing platform is NeoRide, an app that simplifies tolling across multiple states in the United States.
"You just download it, take a picture of your plate, input your phone number and account information, and you’re signed up, ready to use it across the vast majority of states," he says.
"I’m very action-oriented, always thinking about how to move things to the next step."
Meanwhile, Neology’s partnership with toll software provider P Square Solutions has further improved its operational capabilities, according to Feldmann.
"Its proven track record of technology excellence, paired with our experience in delivering global tolling systems, has helped us secure nearly US$600 million of new business in 2024 alone. It exemplifies our commitment to delivering solutions that meet the rapidly evolving needs of our customers," he says.
However, Feldmann didn’t earn his fearsome reputation for growth through run-of-the-mill solutions and insists he’s not about to start now.
"We’ve evolved world-class readers to collect protocols from the world-class tags we’ve devised for people’s windshields. Our optical and infrared megapixel cameras are also world-class and contain AI-driven NVIDIA processors," he points out.
"That’s how we’ve become leaders in our field, and that’s how we’ll continue to operate."