3 months following Flexport founder Ryan Petersen fired Dave Clark as CEO and returned to operate his offer chain software package startup, the enterprise has ousted its main financial officer, and its human resources main has resigned, CNBC has discovered.
Flexport informed CFO Kenny Wagers previous week that he was staying enable go, in accordance to persons familiar with the situation. His very last day is Friday.
Stuart Leung, Flexport’s head of finance, is anticipated to be named CFO, explained the folks, who asked not to be named mainly because they weren’t approved to speak publicly on the issue. Leung has labored at Flexport for seven several years in many operations, logistics and finance roles, and is seen as a close confidant of Petersen’s.
Petersen, who launched Flexport a 10 years ago and created it into a Silicon Valley darling valued at $8 billion by distinguished buyers, reclaimed the leading placement at the organization on Sept. 6, following he and the board pressured Clark to resign. Clark, who put in 23 many years at Amazon and grew to become a major member of Jeff Bezos’ management crew, was employed by Petersen a 12 months in the past, in aspect to enable the business go towards an IPO, resources mentioned.
Clark and Petersen labored as co-CEOs of Flexport starting up last September, and Clark took over as the company’s sole CEO in March. Petersen became a enterprise partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, a single of Flexport’s top backers.
Jennifer Boden, Flexport’s vice president of folks tech and employee expertise, is also leaving the corporation, the resources said. Boden took in excess of the position earlier this thirty day period following her predecessor, Darcie Henry, was let go from Flexport.
A Flexport spokesperson confirmed the staff moves, and claimed that Michael Brown will get on a new purpose as Head of Restructuring and CEO Initiatives, but declined remark on possible layoffs.
“Kenny Wagers produced a great influence at Flexport, and we are grateful for his contributions steering Flexport as one particular of the swiftest-escalating businesses for the duration of his tenure. We want Kenny the most effective as he pursues his future possibilities. Stuart Leung will develop into Flexport’s Chief Economical Officer and report to Ryan Petersen, CEO, efficient instantly. Stuart has been with Flexport for almost 7 many years possessing held important senior leadership roles in finance, product sales, and functions. As CFO, he will focus on leading Flexport’s return to profitability and growth.
“Michael Brown will consider on the job of SVP, Head of Restructuring and CEO Initiatives. In this freshly produced purpose, he will emphasis on restructuring the enterprise to be much more client-centric and leading our return to profitability. Jennifer Boden will be leaving Flexport to go after new prospects. We thank Jennifer for her management and wish her all the greatest in her long run endeavors.”
Petersen has fired lots of of the executives Clark recruited from Amazon, like Henry, as well as Teresa Carlson, who was the firm’s president Tim Collins, who served as government vice president of international operations and Kelly Cheeseman, a vice president and main of personnel.
Flexport launched in 2013 as a digitally focused freight forwarder, and a short while ago has moved to become an end-to-finish offer chain expert services corporation, buying achievement company Deliverr from Shopify in May perhaps. In addition to Founders Fund, the business has also raised funds from Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank.
Although Flexport’s enterprise was thriving during the Covid e-commerce growth, it can be been hit challenging above the earlier year as world wide economic tumult has led to a dramatic slump in worldwide freight actions.
In a series of posts on X, numerous of which ended up subsequently deleted, Petersen publicly excoriated Clark and his options for growth at the firm. He explained Flexport would rescind 55 give letters, and seem to lease out business office house.
Prior to the Clark saga, executives had been doing the job on an IPO timeline and were being focusing on a 2025 debut, in accordance to an interior document considered by CNBC. Now the corporation is in cost-cutting manner, and is anticipated to announce more layoffs in the coming months, the people reported.
In January, Flexport laid off about 20% of the company’s workforce, or roughly 640 employees.
— CNBC’s Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.
Look at: Flexport CEO Petersen on firm’s strategy to reinvest gains
