Russell Reynolds Associates Seeks New CFO for XPO Logistics

August 24, 2018 – Russell Reynolds Associates has been selected to find a new chief financial officer for Greenwich, CT-based XPO Logistics. CFO John Hardig recently stepped down to spend more time with his family, the company said. Sarah Glickman, senior vice president, corporate finance, assumes the role of acting chief financial officer. Mr. Hardig will remain available to the business in an advisory capacity until mid-September.

“I’m immensely grateful to John for helping us grow XPO into a $15 billion company over the last six-and-a-half years,” said Bradley S. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of XPO Logistics. “John’s legacy at XPO is one of integrity and accomplishment. We wish him the very best.”

Mr. Hardig served as XPO’s first CFO since 2012. “My years on the XPO executive team have been the most fulfilling of my career,” he said. “I’m particularly proud of the world-class finance organization we built and the talented leaders who are immersed in our strategy. It was a difficult decision to leave, but now is the right time for me to focus on my family.”

Strong Experience

Ms. Glickman has more than 25 years of senior finance experience. She was formerly chief financial officer of business services for Novartis and has held executive roles with Honeywell International and Bristol-Myers Squibb. During her 11 years with Honeywell, she served as chief financial officer of the fluorine products business unit, global head of internal audit and director of finance operations. With Bristol-Myers Squibb, she had senior responsibility for corporate controllers and accounting, financial controls and compliance. Ms. Glickman began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a CPA and a chartered accountant with a degree in economics from the University of York (U.K.)

XPO Logistics is a top ten global logistics provider of cutting-edge supply chain solutions. The company operates as a highly integrated network of people, technology and physical assets in 32 countries, with 1,505 locations and more than 97,000 employees. XPO uses its network to help more than 50,000 customers manage their goods more efficiently throughout their supply chains. Its European headquarters is in Lyon, France.

Earlier this month, during the company’s second quarter earnings conference call, Mr. Jacobs reported that revenue, operating income and earnings all hit company records for a second quarter. “We generated higher than expected organic revenue growth of 11 percent, and we continued to grow adjusted EBITDA at a faster rate than revenue,” he said. “On a year-over-year basis, our EBITDA in the quarter was up 18 percent, underscoring the broad-based growth that we delivered across our operations.”

Continued Growth

In its transportation segment, the company increased freight brokerage revenue by 27 percent and increased brokerage net revenue by 46 percent, he said. In North American LTL, XPO Logistics achieved an adjusted operating ratio of 84.3 percent, which was the company’s best operating ratio in 30 years.

“In last mile, we grew revenue in the quarter by 17 percent,” Mr. Jacobs said. “And, once again, the big driver of last mile performance was E-commerce. We opened another 16 last-mile hubs in the second quarter, bringing our last-mile network to 71 hubs across North America, on track for a total of 85, ahead of the holiday peak.”

The growth in E-commerce is a global phenomenon, he added. “In our logistics segment, E-commerce fueled an acceleration of our organic revenue growth to 14 percent,” said Mr. Jacobs. “We implemented a record 37 contract logistics start-ups in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date start-ups through June to 64. We expect this strong growth to continue due to our $1.8 billion logistics sales pipeline, which is up 48 percent from $1.2 billion a year ago.”

Finding CFOs

CFOs continue to be in high demand. Finding them is keeping many of the nation’s top recruitment operations busier than ever. In recent months, search firms of all varieties have placed CFOs at various companies. Here’s a look at a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

New York-based executive recruiter Herbert Mines Associates recently placed Paula A. Price as CFO for retail giant Macy’s. Ms. Price has 30 years of finance experience, mostly from retail and consumer-facing businesses. Most recently, she served as CFO of Ahold USA.

Houston-based search firm The Alexander Group placed Joshua Brumm as CFO of Kaleido Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Managing director Beth Ehrgott led the assignment. Mr. Brumm, an accomplished CFO with extensive financial and operational experience, has more than a decade of experience in the life science industry.

Caldwell Partners International placed Bradley Wear as the new executive vice president and CFO of Compassus, a nationwide network of community-based hospice. Neal Maslan and John Blank, both partners in the firm’s life sciences and healthcare practice, led the search. Mr. Wear has more than 20 years of experience in senior financial leadership roles in healthcare.

TalentRISE placed Laura Witter-Johnson as CFO of Prism Healthcare Partners. The assignment was led by J. James O’Malley, partner and executive search practice leader, and Beth Gordon, director for executive search. “We were looking for a sitting controller or director of accounting within a professional services firm,” said Mr. O’Malley. 

Sports and entertainment recruitment firm Turnkey Search placed Daniel Fumai as the CFO of the Milwaukee Brewers. In his new role, Mr. Fumai will provide direct, hands-on leadership for the financial operation of the Brewers organization and related entities, including the direction of all finance, accounting, reporting and treasury duties.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media