J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT announced several changes to its executive leadership team on Tuesday.
John Kuhlow is now the company's full-time chief financial officer. He filled the role on an interim basis following the retirement of Dave Mee in March. Kuhlow joined the company in 2006 as assistant controller, most recently serving as senior vice president of finance, controller and chief accounting officer prior to the CFO role.
"First of all, I want to thank John Kuhlow for his patient and competent service as our interim CFO during the past several months. As the pandemic presented itself, we were faced with challenges in performing an appropriate external search to facilitate an effective and thorough process," stated President and CEO John Roberts. "John's reliability has allowed us the time to arrive at a complete and fully vetted decision for this important position. We are very pleased to announce John's appointment as our next CFO and have great confidence in our path forward."
President of the dedicated and final-mile segments (contract services), Nick Hobbs has been named the company's chief operating officer. The expanded role now includes responsibility for maintenance, the equipment purchasing teams and increased oversight of all of the company's asset operations. The company's digital freight platform, J.B. Hunt 360, is "expected to be a key component of operational excellence" under his leadership.
Chief Commercial Officer Shelley Simpson adds international services, corporate marketing and the newly created role of executive vice president of human resources to her duties. "As supply chain integration requirements for shippers evolve, an even more comprehensive logistics approach under Shelley's leadership is important to the company's strategic future," the release stated. "All segments will continue to work closely with Shelley's enterprise sales and marketing teams on customer development and economic strategies, particularly in Integrated Capacity Solutions, Truckload and Intermodal, as she maintains her accountability for the P&L performance in the growth and margin of these segments."
Craig Harper has been named to the company's newly created role of chief sustainability officer, which includes oversight of sustainability initiatives and environmental actions like developments in electric vehicles and autonomous driving. He will maintain his duties as the head of driver hiring, orientation and safety, and fuel purchasing.
Brad Hicks will take over as president of highway services (brokerage and truckload), a role formerly held by Simpson. Hicks has been with J.B. Hunt for the last 24 years, most recently serving as executive vice president of dedicated.
All of the new appointments will be effective Dec. 1, reporting directly to Roberts.
"During the past eight months, we have not only been dealing with our response to the challenges presented by COVID-19, we have also been moving forward with important leadership decisions. These changes best address the opportunities we see in many areas of the company and we believe set us up to head into 2021 and the future with the right people focused on the right things," concluded Roberts.
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