XPO Logistics has promoted LaQuenta Jacobs to the newly created position of chief diversity officer, effective Monday.
She will provide cultural leadership and strategic direction as an advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion at XPO and report directly to Chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs.
LaQuenta Jacobs has 23 years of experience leading organizational development initiatives for global public companies. She joined XPO in 2018 as the head of human resources for the company’s last-mile business unit. Prior to XPO, she championed inclusivity in senior HR roles with Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, Turner Broadcasting Systems and Georgia-Pacific Corp.
“I’m delighted that our first chief diversity officer is such a qualified candidate from within our own organization,” Brad Jacobs said. “LaQuenta is a unique talent. She cares deeply about the human aspects of diversity and also knows how to advance cultural development within a public company of XPO’s size, with almost 100,000 employees.”
CEO Jacobs said during his FreightWaves 3PL Summit keynote on July 21 that XPO would be focusing on diversity.
“There is a problem in the country [with] racial inequality and that’s a fact,” he said.
Bestpass
Bestpass, a provider of toll management solutions for commercial fleets, has appointed Tom Fogarty as chief executive and a member of the board of directors.
Fogarty joins Bestpass after 11 years with RDC (Regulatory DataCorp). Under his leadership as president and chief operating officer, the high-growth, software/data-as-a-service company became a leader in fighting financial crime. It became part of Moody’s Analytics earlier this year.
“Tom has significant experience in growing technology firms and building scalable operations, and he will be a tremendous asset to the company as we continue to innovate in the fields of toll management and vehicle payment platforms,” said John Andrews, who will remain president, chief strategy officer and chairman of the Bestpass board.
Andrews was named president and CEO in 2009, when Bestpass had four employees and processed $15 million in tolls annually. Bestpass has since grown to nearly 100 employees and processes more than $1 billion in tolls each year.
Fogarty said Andrews “has built a great team and has transformed vision into innovative solutions, resulting in rapid growth. Along the way Bestpass has consistently delivered excellence and is now in a unique market position to drive additional value for its customers and partners.”
Bristlecone
The board of directors of Bristlecone has hired Nirav Patel as president and CEO.
Patel also will serve on the board of Bristlecone, a provider of product engineering services, consulting and digital supply chain transformation.
Patel most recently was the senior vice president and global markets leader for Cognizant’s communications and technology business. He led Cognizant’s pivot to digitization across its telecom, media, entertainment and technology sectors and helped scale the company to more than $2 billion in annual revenue.
He previously served as Cognizant’s head of global delivery for retail, manufacturing, logistics and transportation.
Dhaval Buch, who served as interim CEO, said Patel was joining Bristlecone at a time “when digitization of supply chains is a strategic initiative for every company. Bristlecone has deep expertise in helping our clients move to agile, fast, transparent and radically cost-efficient supply chains.”
Headquartered in San Jose, California, Bristlecone has 14 global hubs and 1,800 consultants. Founded in 1998, Bristlecone is part of the $19.4 billion Mahindra Group.
“Bristlecone has been at the forefront of driving digital resilience and transformation for global enterprises,” Patel said. “I believe Bristlecone is uniquely positioned to lead during this time of unprecedented change and help organizations around the world reimagine, redefine and transform their businesses by accelerating digital adoption to create new sources of value.”
CSafe Global
CSafe Global, a Dayton, Ohio-based provider of temperature-controlled container solutions for the transport of pharmaceuticals, has expanded its life science sales team in Europe with the hiring of Vincenzo Cuffaro and Gidius van den Eng.
As director of life science sales, Cuffaro will support customers in Southern Europe. He most recently was a key account manager in the pharmaceutical and health care sector for Kuehne + Nagel.
As director of passive life science sales for Europe, van den Eng will support CSafe customers across the continent. He spent seven years with DSV Panalpina as a key account manager for global health care accounts.
Delek Logistics Partners
Delek Logistics Partners has appointed Gennifer Kelly to its board of directors.
Kelly has 25 years of oil and gas industry experience in both upstream and midstream sectors. She previously served as Western Midstream Partners’ chief operating officer and senior vice president and Anadarko Petroleum’s vice president of marketing. She also worked as an engineer for Kerr McGee Corp. and the Louisiana Office of Conservation.
Headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, the company was formed by Delek US Holdings Inc. to own, operate, acquire and construct crude oil and refined products logistics and marketing assets.
Federal Maritime Commission
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steve Andersen has been named general counsel to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) and a member of its senior executive service.
Andersen previously was the Coast Guard’s chief counsel and judge advocate general. In that role, he chaired the Marine Safety and Security Council.
In his new role, he will provide advice and recommendations to FMC Chairman Michael A. Khouri and commissioners on legal, regulatory and policy matters.
Khouri said Andersen “brings a wealth of experience in law, management and maritime affairs to his new assignment. He will be an asset and valued contributor as we pursue the commission’s objective to ensure competition and integrity for America’s ocean supply chain.”
Forward Air
Scott Schara will join Forward Air as chief commercial officer on Aug. 31.
Tom Schmitt, chairman, president and CEO of Forward Air, said Schara “is a world-class leader with a surgical approach to driving profitable revenue growth. His broad understanding of the surface transportation landscape coupled with his ability to create high-performance sales teams and develop high-value strategies makes him a perfect fit for Forward as we enter a new stage of growth.”
Schara previously served as the CCO for Coyote Logistics.
Headquartered in Greeneville, Tennessee, Forward Air is an asset-light freight and logistics company with 93 terminals and 5,200 employees nationwide.
GEODIS
The GEODIS Group has appointed Gary O’Connor as managing director in Ireland.
O’Connor will oversee contract logistics, overland transport, freight forwarding, supply chain optimization, and express and parcel deliveries in Ireland.
He has 15 years of experience working with health care supply chains.
“The growth potential in the Irish health care market is encouraging, as is GEODIS’ ability to implement true end-to-end control of customers’ supply chains across our other target verticals,” O’Connor said.
Softbox
Softbox, a global provider of temperature-controlled packaging systems and thermal covers for the life science and logistics industries, has appointed Charlie Nicholson as its global chief financial officer.
Nicholson will be responsible for all financial and fiscal management aspects of Softbox and its regional business units across the globe. His primary focus will be assessing Softbox’s operational and financial performance and developing scalable systems, processing and controls to support the company’s global business operations and growth.
He has more than 20 years of experience leading financial processes and has held senior finance roles with pharmaceutical and clinical trial organizations.
Headquartered in Buckinghamshire, U.K., Softbox has manufacturing sites throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, India and Asia Pacific.
Career Tracks: Hamburg Süd, Trailer Bridge, JAXPORT and CSafe
Career Tracks: Virgin Hyperloop hires CFO
Career Tracks: Supply chain professor nets CSCMP award
Click for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Kim Link-Wills.
