In executive moves, a European commercial manager is appointed, new CEOs are tapped, a chief economist is hired and a CFO and CIO are named.
Global multipurpose and project heavy lift carrier AAL has appointed Marc-Oliver Brockmann as European commercial manager.
Brockmann (pictured above left) joins the Hamburg, Germany-based team with 27 years of experience with international breakbulk and project cargo broker COLI Schiffahrt & Transport GmbH & Co. KG.
“I grew up with COLI and during my tenure gained extensive knowledge of the project cargo market and particularly the trade between Europe and Asia — its ebbs and flows and key drivers,” Brockmann said. “I hope now to share that expertise with AAL, an ocean carrier that I’ve worked with many times and highly respect for its professionalism and transparency in dealings.”
Ian Adams is stepping down as chief executive of the Association of Bulk Terminal Operators (ABTO) and handing the reins to Simon Gutteridge, the organization’s current affairs director.
Adams, the Maritime AMC managing director, has been the chief executive since the association’s founding in 2016 and will continue in an advisory role but hand over the day-to-day running of the ABTO secretariat on July 1.
He will continue to serve as the executive director of the Clean Shipping Alliance 2020, to which Maritime AAMC provides secretariat management services.
Adams said Gutteridge “has been pivotal in increasing our membership and ensuring the success of our events and conferences.”
ABTO was formed to represent the bulk transport sector at national and international governmental levels. It provides a voice for bulk terminal operations as well as a forum for its members to discuss issues impacting the global transportation of bulk commodities.
Kenneth Vareide (pictured above center) has been appointed CEO of DNV GL’s Digital Solutions business unit, a provider of solutions for managing risk and improving asset performance. Its nearly 1,000 digital experts provide services primarily to the oil and gas, energy and maritime industries.
Vareide joined the Norway-headquartered DNV GL as a trainee in 1996 and most recently held the position of digital director in the maritime sector.
“DNV GL has been a digital pioneer since the 1960s and it is an exciting and challenging time to pick up the CEO’s baton, as many of our customers are navigating digital transformations,” said Vareide. “With our deep domain knowledge and digital expertise, we are ideally placed to help our customers leverage the possibilities of the fourth industrial revolution.”
Remi Eriksen, DNV GL Group president and CEO said, “We have put digitalization at the heart of our strategy and I am delighted that Kenneth has agreed to lead Digital Solutions at this pivotal time for DNV GL and our customers. He will continue to grow our software eco-system and the services we offer to our customers and build on the early success of Veracity, which has already registered 1.2 million service subscriptions.”
San Francisco-headquartered freight forwarder Flexport announced Monday that Phil Levy will join the company June 17 as its first chief economist.
Most recently he served as a senior fellow on the global economy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and authored the book Rebuilding a Bipartisan Consensus on Trade Policy.
Levy previously served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors as a senior economist for trade and as a member of the policy planning staff for the U.S. Department of Trade. He also has taught global economic policy and international trade at Georgetown, Columbia, the University of Virginia and Yale.
Levy will lead a Flexport research team to identify trends in global trade and how they impact the supply chain. He also will advise Flexport teams on policy developments and actionable responses to global trade trends, enabling the company to better plan, move and finance freight for its clients.
“To make global trade easier for everyone, data informs everything we do at Flexport, from the guidance we give our clients to the products we build,” said Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport. “Bringing an economist of Phil’s caliber on board at Flexport is momentous. Phil and his team will make everyone smarter. They will help our clients make better-informed decisions and fuel the next phase of Flexport’s growth as a data-driven freight forwarder.”
The Greenbrier Companies Inc. announced Monday that Adrian Downes (pictured above right) has been appointed chief financial officer.
Downes had been the senior vice president and acting CFO. In addition to continuing his duties managing Greenbrier’s accounting, tax, internal audit and IT functions, he also will serve as the company’s principal financial and accounting officer.
He has more than 30 years of accounting and finance experience with both public and privately held companies. Before joining Greenbrier in 2013 as its chief accounting officer, he was the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Knowledge Universe. He also has held senior financial executive positions with SUPERVALU, Albertson’s, Gap Inc. and Pacific Telesis. He began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Greenbrier, headquartered in Lake Oswego, Ore., is an international supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets.
Imperial Logistics International has appointed Hugo Pluess as its chief information officer based in Zurich, Switzerland, effective Aug. 1.
Pluess will be responsible for all aspects of IT throughout Imperial Logistics International’s operations, which encompass 9,000 staff members at 170 locations in 20 countries.
Past positions include VP of global distributed computing services at NCR Corp. in the United States and CIO of NCR Switzerland, global head of enterprise computing services at Roche Pharmaceuticals and EVP of global IT infrastructure at CEVA Logistics, all in Switzerland.
Imperial Logistics International CEO Hakan Bicil called Pluess a “true IT heavyweight” and said, “The pace of our expansion to date, our plans for organic growth across new locations and the likelihood of further strategic growth makes it essential that our IT environment continues to develop in a scalable, adaptable and future-proof manner.”
