CNF names Stotlar CEO, Williford leaves Menlo
After 18 months without a permanent chief executive, CNF Inc. named Douglas Stotlar to lead the freight transportation holding company.
Stotlar, 44, has been president of CNF trucking subsidiary Con-Way Transportation Services since December.
John Williford, president of CNF’s logistics and technology subsidiary Menlo Worldwide, has apparently resigned in reaction to being passed over for the top job. Williford will become an advisor to the company, CNF said in a brief statement.
Williford was instrumental in building Menlo into a major international third-party logistics provider, but unloaded its heavy freight Menlo Worldwide Forwarding unit to UPS in December. The sale of the forwarding unit positioned Menlo as a lead logistics provider rather than a provider of comprehensive in-house logistics services.
In December, Gerald Detter retired as president of Con-Way, a move analysts have attributed to not getting picked to head CNF.
Stotlar was promoted from his post as chief operating officer to head Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Con-Way after Detter’s departure. Con-Way, with annual revenues in excess of $2 billion, is one of the largest and most profitable less-than-truckload carriers in the nation. He worked his way up the ladder after starting as a freight supervisor for Con-Way Central Express in 1985. He headed Con-Way NOW, the company’s time-definite freight services carrier.
Stotlar now takes over the entire corporation from Chairman Keith Kennedy, who has served as interim CEO since the Gregory Quesnel left the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.