C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW) has chosen David Bozeman, an executive of the Ford Motor Co., as its next CEO, according to people familiar with the matter.
The announcement, which is expected to be made as early as Monday, catapults Bozeman to the top job of the nation’s largest freight broker.
Bozeman is currently vice president of the customer services division and enthusiast brands at Ford (NYSE: F). Before joining the automaker last August, Bozeman spent five-plus years as vice president of Amazon Transportation Services. Before that, he spent more than eight years in top positions at Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and more than 16 years at Harley-Davidson Motor Co. (NYSE: HOG).
The choice of Bozeman may come as a surprise to many who thought that Jim Barber, a former COO at UPS Inc. (NYSE: UPS), to be the odds-on choice for the job. The position has been open since Bob Biesterfeld was let go at the beginning of the year.
During its most recent analyst call, Robinson said a decision would be made and announced by the end of June. Company executives were not immediately available for comment.
Like virtually all brokers, Robinson has struggled with a sharp downturn in demand. Robinson had also struggled in recent months amid concerns about increased competition from the likes of new broker RXO Inc. (NYSE: RXO). However, it had lost market share in general in what had before been a historically strong environment for contract brokerage, from which Robinson generates most of its revenue.
Robinson also overspent significantly on personnel to support load-matching technology that executives thought would disrupt traditional brokerage but had failed to generate the expected returns on investment. One of the sources in January criticized Robinson for investing $1 billion in IT projects, including the much publicized Navisphere load-matching platform that never lived up to expectations.
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