Roland Mullen (born 1931) of Olds, Alberta started Mullen Trucking with a single vehicle in 1949. In 1957 he entered the oilfield industry by racking his first rig -Trident #9- and hauling Cats and oil.

Over the next 40 years he built the company into the largest provider of transportation services to the Canadian petroleum industry, fielding 1,100 trucks and 2,000 employees and owner-operators.

In 1993 Mullen Trucking became a publicly owned company in which every employee became a shareholder.