With shrinking virtual borders and more lucid movements of people, products, and packages, the world as a global village has taken better shape. Growth of e-commerce and the developing world has aided this trend and amongst all industries in this arena, the logistics industry is confronting the most significant changes. The unprecedented change in this industry has given way to notable business leaders who are revving up the industry with new business models, intelligent use of technology, innovative-thinking, and better customer experience.
Logistics has become the single-most critical element of our on-demand and convenience-centric world. Hence, it is important to know who are the main movers and shakers of this industry. Here are five business leaders in logistics to watch in 2019.
5 Business Leaders revving up the logistics industry
Eric Gilmore, Founder and CEO – Turvo
Logistics has long been an industry of chaos with no visibility and accountability among the many stakeholders of the supply chain process. Redundant manual tasks and dependence on pen and paper for record-keeping, made this industry sluggish in today’s digital era. Established with the motto to bring “order to chaos,” Eric Gilmore founded Turvo – the World’s First Real-Time Collaborative Logistics Platform.
This platform is convenient for people involved in the supply chain to use, store, and share information on shipments at one place. Think of Turvo as the Slack for the logistics industry.
Brad Hollister, Founder and CEO – SwanLeap
An influential leader in the logistics industry, Brad Hollister’s is the mind behind America’s fastest-growing private company – SwanLeap. A seasoned logistics professional on a mission to amalgamate the fragmented logistics industry, Hollister is one of the most important business leaders in logistics.
With extensive experience in transportation, logistics, and supply chain, Hollister’s leadership and institutional expertise solidify SwanLeap’s position as the leading provider of end-to-end transportation technology.
Under his leadership, SwanLeap delivered an unprecedented 75,660.8 percent growth in revenue in the past three years, catapulting the 5-year-old software company to the No. 1 spot on both the 2018 Inc. 5000 list and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500.
Melanie Kreis, CFO – Deutsche Post
Breaking the glass ceiling in a male-dominated industry is Melanie Kreis, CFO of the world’s largest logistics company – Deutsche Post. Previously the CFO of DHL Express, Melanie Kries is the first woman to hold this position. She has been serving on the executive board of Deutsche post since 2014 as the Chief Human Resource Officer.
As an influential leader in logistics, Kreis has been key in leading the investment agenda of the Deutsche Post and the company’s adoption of new accounting standards ahead of the competition. She has been instrumental in executing the sale of Deutsche Post’s stake in Postbank, a German retail bank, to Deutsche Bank.
Bradley Jacobs, CEO – XPO Logistics
Bradley Jacobs acquired Express – 1, a freight company in 2011 and changed the name to XPO logistics. Thereafter, Jacobs shelled out $7 billion on 17 acquisitions to turn XPO into a Logistics giant with a market cap of around $13 billion. Jacobs did this in a matter of eight years, making him one of the most influential leaders in logistics.
Often known as the maestro of mergers, XPO Logistics consolidated by Bradley Jacobs is one of the few logistics giants rooted in a technology-first vision. Jacobs’ efforts in leveraging on the e-commerce boom has made XPO Logistics one of the largest and most profitable companies in logistics.
Ray Greer – CEO – Omnitracs
An industry veteran, Ray Greer has held several important leadership roles in the logistics industry prior to Omnitracs. He has held leadership roles at BNSF Logistics, Greatwide Logistics Services, Newgistics, Ryder Integrated Logistics, and FedEx.
Omnitracs is a leading provider of fleet management solutions to transport and logistics companies. A pioneer in fleet telematics, Omnitracs under the leadership of Ray Greer aims to streamline the convoluted logistics processes through intelligent SaaS solutions.
One of the most influential business leaders in logistics, Greer believes that a unified open platform amongst the industry will drive innovation across the entire ecosystem, with Omnitracs being the proxy for the industry.
