Staff Movements in the Logistics and Associated Sectors This Week

US – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has announced that Robin Hutcheson will become the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). As Deputy Administrator, Ms Hutcheson will serve as the Acting Administrator. Since January 2021, Ms. Hutcheson has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Policy for the US Department of Transportation in the Biden-Harris Administration. In this role she led safety policy for the Department, and coordinated other critical efforts, including Covid 19 response and recovery.

She was instrumental in the development of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, especially the new Safe Streets and Roads for All program. Prior to being appointed to the Biden-Harris Administration, she was the Director of Public Works for the City of Minneapolis overseeing a team of 1,100 people across nine divisions including drinking water, surface waters and sewers, solid waste and recycling, fleet management, and all transportation functions.

Ms Hutcheson’s appointment was praised by American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear who said she was assuming the position at a critical time as the pandemic, natural disasters, workforce shortages, and other factors continue to challenge the freight economy in ways never seen before.

US – SEKO Logistics has promoted Char L. Dalton to Chief Legal Officer & Chief of Staff to focus on the realisation of the company’s long-term growth objectives. Reporting to SEKO’s President & CEO, James Gagne, and as a high-visibility member of the Executive team based at their global headquarters in Itasca, Illinois, this new role supports the CEO with execution of strategic initiatives across all portfolio companies.

Char joined SEKO Logistics in 2014 as Director, Legal after five years as Corporate Legal Counsel at NNR Global Logistics. She has held the post of General Counsel, Vice President at SEKO for the past seven years, managing legal issues for the company’s worldwide entities, as well as maintaining responsibilities for the Human Resources and Compliance teams. Char’s global legal work for SEKO incorporates corporate governance, commercial transactions, litigation management, contracts, and other legal affairs for the organisation, with a core focus on business facilitation and risk mitigation.

Char also serves as Corporate Secretary for the Board of Directors and is an active participant in the legal community, including her role as President (Elect) for the Association of Corporate Counsel, Chicago, as well as her participation and leadership in a variety of other community and volunteer initiatives.

UK – The Port of Tyne has appointed Charlotte Brown as Chief Commercial Officer to head up the Port's commercial team. Charlotte brings over 20 years’ experience in the energy, maritime, engineering and technology sectors to her role at the Port.

She has held a range of commercial roles at companies including Honeywell, Fujitsu, and DNV. Charlotte was most recently employed as Sector Director for Energy at international analytics and data science consulting services company Cap Gemini Group.

UK – International Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) specialist, Indigo Software, has recruited four new team members, with roles spanning development, consultancy, customer and sales support. Gareth Peterson was appointed as a Support Manager for Indigo Software’s Global Support Team. His remit is to ensure that the company’s UK and Asia Pacific Support Teams provide first class customer support to the fast growing customer base.

Tom Jervis joined as a Supply Chain Consultant. Tom is an experienced Supply Chain professional with over 13 years’ experience in the telecommunications, e-commerce, FMCG, reverse logistics and device refurbishment industries. Jack Johnson joined as a Cloud Architect responsible for designing, planning and visualising Indigo Software’s range of cloud products and Laurren Cooper joined as a Sales and Marketing Executive to support Indigo Software’s fast expanding new business function.

UK – XPO Logistics has announced the appointment of Andrew Turner to lead the company's commercial organisation in the UK and Ireland. He reports to Dan Myers, managing director for the region. Turner has more than 20 years of experience in transportation and logistics, including a decade of senior business development roles.

Prior to his current position, he served as head of development for Wincanton plc and Yodel Delivery Network Ltd. He was instrumental in XPO's strategic expansion in the UK e-commerce and direct-to-consumer digital sectors. He holds a degree in business economics and European studies from Manchester Metropolitan University.

UK – To support its growth plans this year, Maritime Transport Ltd. has strengthened its senior management team with a series of new appointments; the introduction of Michael Carr as General Manager - Property, and Craig Moore as General Manager - Commercial. Chris Lewis re-joins Maritime’s board of management as Deputy Chairman alongside newly-appointed Fleet Sales Director, Matt Heath.

A forty year industry veteran Chris Lewis brings substantial expertise to the board, having previously held senior positions at Hutchison Ports and DP World as UK Chief Executive Officer. Matt Heath has successfully led Secondhand Trucks for the last sixteen years, establishing it as one of the UK’s leading reselling companies within the sector.

Craig Moore has occupied roles at senior level in a career that spans almost twenty years, including eRetailer, White Stores, where he was Divisional Managing Director overseeing their logistics and warehousing operations, and a fourteen-year spell at Tesco and was Head of Supply Chain and Commercial at DP World. Civil Engineer Michael Carr joined Maritime from Jackson Civil Engineering where he was a Contracts Manager for thirteen years. Additionally, he served in the Royal Navy, travelling the world as a mechanical and electrical engineer on board nuclear submarines.

UK – Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has announced that Partner George Macheras has been named as the firm’s new Global Maritime Sector Co-Head, replacing Lindsey Keeble as she takes up the role of WFW Managing Partner as of 1 February 2022. George Paleokrassas, who takes on the role of WFW Senior Partner on the same date, will remain in his role as Global Maritime Sector Co-Head.

Macheras, who made partner in 2018, advises on all aspects of ship financing as well as on commercial matters relating to the sale, purchase, employment and operation of all maritime asset classes. His clients span the shipping and offshore industries, including financial institutions as well as shipping owners, managers and charterers.

UK – Digital freight business, DigiHaul has appointed Wenjia Tang to the newly created Head of Data role. Wenjia started a B.Eng and M.Eng in Communication and Electronics Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China at the age of just 15, as the only woman in a class of 30. She went on to complete a PhD on the topic of Optimisation Algorithms before joining IBM as a data analyst and then data scientist.

DigiHaul announced last year that it had secured first round funding of £14.4 million pounds, which includes investment from the global leader in logistics, DHL. DigiHaul connects shippers to trusted carriers through a frictionless digital freight platform. The company currently has a base of 700 carriers and is managing +2000 shipments per week, +100,000 shipments per year from industries including FMCG, retail and manufacturing.

UK – Toyota Material Handling UK (TMHUK) has announced the appointment of Stuart Reilly to the position of Rental & Used Director. With more than three decades’ experience of the materials handling industry, Stuart has been with TMHUK for over 20 years, during which time he has held leadership positions within the company’s after sales, rental and hand pallet truck departments. He is also a former general manager of Toyota’s operation in Scotland.

UK – The Northern political and business leaders who make up the Transport for the North (TfN) Board will be asked next week to consider the appointment of Lord Patrick McLoughlin as the new TfN Partnership Board and Board Chair. He has been put forward by the Appointment Panel as the preferred candidate and, if approved, would start in post on 26 January 2022.

UK – Heiko Selzam is preparing to take on the job of Managing Director at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, effective from 1 April 2022, he succeeds Wolfgang Theissen, who passed away in September. Heiko is a familiar face within the global Daimler Truck family, having joined what was then Daimler Benz AG in 1996 as Sales Executive for Commercial Vehicles. Since then he has taken on multiple assignments in the Middle East, Luxembourg and Austria, gaining experience across sales and service.

In his current role, Heiko has established the new Mercedes-Benz Trucks Austria GmbH, and as CEO he has taken the company through full independence with the separation of the Daimler Group companies Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Truck AG. Heiko’s UK appointment will see him return to the business with which he spent two years as Sales Director, from 2017 to 2019. In this position, in addition to the new and used truck business, he was responsible for truck training and sales operations, as well as sales of telematics services.

NORTHERN IRELAND – Nicholl Oils has installed Rod Hawkins as Business Development Manager, moving from the dual role of Heavy Truck Business Development Manager in NI and Ireland working for NI Trucks and their sister company, Emerald Truck & Van, the Iveco distributor for Ireland. Previously he was at Scania dealers Road Trucks.

The move represents a return of the prodigal as Rod left Nicholl’s seventeen years ago and now returns to the independent oil distributor, working out of the company’s Head Office in Greysteel and its Depot in Belfast.

TURKEY – HONG KONG – SINGAPORE – Ballast water treatment system (BWTS) specialist Optimarin has bolstered its global sales force with new appointments at the three strategic shipping locations to handle an increase in activity both for ship retrofits ahead of the 2024 deadline for the IMO’s ballast water management convention and in the new build segment.

The company has also increased the capacity and capability at its head office in Stavanger with the appointment of new sales and technical staff to handle the higher workload from new orders and strengthen its service capacity for future growth as the company reports adding new clients at a rate of five to seven per month and has seen particularly strong sales growth in Turkey where it secured more than 25 orders only in the last few months of 2021, as well as in the Mediterranean region and Northern Europe, with deliveries to a range of vessels including bulk carriers, tankers and containerships.

DUBAI – MYCRANE, the world’s first digital platform for the search and selection of cranes, has strengthened its team with the appointment of four experienced executives. Erik Altena as Head of Strategic Development, he has a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Delft University of Technology and has worked as a project engineer for Mammoet. Alan Faulds joins as Managing Director in the UAE and Oman and was Manager of Site Operations at the Tengizchevroil (TCO) project in Kazakhstan for Sarens and also worked globally for Mammoet.

Igor Dobrovolskiy has become Managing Director in Russia and has held senior positions at top Russian oil and gas companies such as Lukoil, Transneft and Slavneft, whilst Alexander Kouklev who becomes Business Development Director for the Far East of Russia and Asia-Pacific (APAC) is another Mammoet ‘ex’ working for 16 years as General Director at Mammoet Sakhalin, responsible for the development of all business activity in Sakhalin region and other locations in the Russian Far East. He has held other roles at Schlumberger and Exxon Neftegas Limited.

INDIA – Kale Logistics Solutions has appointed Vikram Bansal as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to enhance digital capabilities and fast-track technological innovation at the company. Bansal has over 20 years’ experience as an IT professional, working in leadership positions with top organisations such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Lionbridge, and Wipro GE Healthcare.

INDIA – EAST AFRICA – Maritime consulting group GMCG Global has increased its presence in India and East Africa with the appointment of Mr. Nandlal Aher as Managing Director for the region. As part of his new role with GMCG, Nandlal Aher will also be responsible for the company’s offshore division as its new global head. He takes with him to GMCG a wealth of experience in the marine, offshore, oil and gas industries and is a qualified mechanical engineer as well as Chartered Engineer registered with IET UK.

His experience spans more than 20 years with classification societies, shipyards, engineering consultancies and global upstream oil and gas companies. Before joining GMCG, Nandlal Aher headed up Offshore Division in DNV for the Middle East and Southeast Europe. He has also worked in the Global Consultancy and Engineering business.

NETHERLANDS – UK – Royal HaskoningDHV has confirmed its renewed focus on the Dutch water and maritime sectors with two key appointments. Maartje Wise-Hoevenaars takes on responsibility for all ecological, water technology and water system activities in the Netherlands. Esther Bosman will handle all flood risk management and maritime activities in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

For maritime clients, Royal HaskoningDHV focuses on ports, shipyards and terminals. Climate change, biodiversity, digitisation, and the impact on society are central themes in the team’s strategic advice, master planning, design, and implementation.

Photo: Robin Hutcheson will become the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.