Petersen Returns as Flexport CEO, Vows Path 'Back to Profitability'
Ryan Petersen is returning to Flexport as CEO of the multinational freight forwarder, following the departure of previous CEO Dave Clark on Sept. 6, Petersen said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. In a letter to Flexport employees included in the post, he said that “it’s clear that important changes are needed to sustain our growth and return to profitability.”
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“Flexport sits at a crossroad where the choice is either to spend our way out of the current downturn in global logistics or pursue a path that gets us back to profitability quickly,” Petersen said in the letter. “The board and I agree that operational excellence and profitability in the near-term is the right path.”
Noting the company’s fast growth to become “one of the largest companies in the global freight forwarding industry in just our first decade,” Petersen said the main way the company grows is by “talking to customers.” He said: “It seems like we [let] that muscle atrophy recently. It starts at the top and you’ll see me leading from the front on this as I speak with hundreds of our biggest customers in the months to come.”