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Michael Welch dies; had co-founded forerunner firm to XPO Logistics (with video)

(Photo: Michael Welch/Facebook)

Michael R. Welch, who co-founded the company that would eventually become XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) died September 27 in Stevensville, Michigan, following a battle with glioblastoma.

His death was confirmed in a statement from the Lakeshore (Michigan) Public Schools, where Welch was a board member.

Welch and Keith Avery co-founded ground expedited firm Express 1-Expedited Solutions of Niles & St. Joseph (Michigan) in 1989. In 2004, Welch orchestrated the sale of the company to transport and logistics provider Segmentz Inc. He served as Express-1 CEO from 2005 to 2011, where he made several acquisitions and started a company known as Bounce Logistics. During that span the company more than quadrupled its revenues.

In September 2011, Express-1 was sold to businessman Brad Jacobs. The company’s name was changed to XPO Logistics, with the “XPO” ticker symbol referencing the symbol that Express-1 had used since 2006. At the time, Express-1 shares traded on the American Stock Exchange. The following June, XPO listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.


Welch would become vice chairman of Magnate Worldwide, a transport and logistics firm headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Welch is survived by his wife, Lisa, and their two children, Kara and Carter.


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Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.