Three weeks after Flexport founder Ryan Petersen fired Dave Clark as CEO and returned to run his provide chain software program startup, the corporate has ousted its chief monetary officer, and its human assets chief has resigned, CNBC has discovered.
Flexport knowledgeable CFO Kenny Wagers final week that he was being let go, in line with folks acquainted with the state of affairs. His final day is Friday.
Stuart Leung, Flexport’s head of finance, is predicted to be named CFO, mentioned the folks, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly on the matter. Leung has labored at Flexport for seven years in numerous operations, logistics and finance roles, and is seen as an in depth confidant of Petersen’s.
Petersen, who based Flexport a decade in the past and constructed it right into a Silicon Valley darling valued at $8 billion by distinguished buyers, reclaimed the highest place on the firm on Sept. 6, after he and the board compelled Clark to resign. Clark, who spent 23 years at Amazon and have become a prime member of Jeff Bezos’ management crew, was employed by Petersen a 12 months in the past, partly to assist the corporate transfer in the direction of an IPO, sources mentioned.
Clark and Petersen labored as co-CEOs of Flexport beginning final September, and Clark took over as the corporate’s sole CEO in March. Petersen grew to become a enterprise accomplice at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, one in all Flexport’s prime backers.
Jennifer Boden, Flexport’s vice chairman of individuals tech and worker expertise, can also be leaving the corporate, the sources mentioned. Boden took over the function earlier this month after her predecessor, Darcie Henry, was let go from Flexport.
A Flexport spokesperson confirmed the personnel strikes, and mentioned that Michael Brown will tackle a brand new function as Head of Restructuring and CEO Initiatives, however declined touch upon doable layoffs.
“Kenny Wagers made an incredible affect at Flexport, and we’re grateful for his contributions steering Flexport as one of many fastest-growing firms throughout his tenure. We want Kenny the perfect as he pursues his subsequent alternatives. Stuart Leung will change into Flexport’s Chief Monetary Officer and report back to Ryan Petersen, CEO, efficient instantly. Stuart has been with Flexport for almost seven years having held very important senior management roles in finance, gross sales, and operations. As CFO, he’ll give attention to main Flexport’s return to profitability and development.
“Michael Brown will tackle the function of SVP, Head of Restructuring and CEO Initiatives. On this newly created function, he’ll give attention to restructuring the enterprise to be extra customer-centric and main our return to profitability. Jennifer Boden will likely be leaving Flexport to pursue new alternatives. We thank Jennifer for her management and want her all the perfect in her future endeavors.”
Petersen has fired most of the executives Clark recruited from Amazon, together with Henry, in addition to Teresa Carlson, who was the corporate’s president; Tim Collins, who served as government vice chairman of world operations; and Kelly Cheeseman, a vice chairman and chief of workers.
Flexport launched in 2013 as a digitally centered freight forwarder, and just lately has moved to change into an end-to-end provide chain companies firm, buying achievement supplier Deliverr from Shopify in Could. Along with Founders Fund, the corporate has additionally raised capital from Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank.
Whereas Flexport’s enterprise was thriving throughout the Covid e-commerce growth, it has been hit exhausting over the previous 12 months as international financial tumult has led to a dramatic stoop in international freight actions.
In a collection of posts on X, a lot of which have been subsequently deleted, Petersen publicly excoriated Clark and his plans for development on the firm. He mentioned Flexport would rescind 55 supply letters, and look to lease out workplace area.
Previous to the Clark saga, executives had been engaged on an IPO timeline and have been focusing on a 2025 debut, in line with an inside doc seen by CNBC. Now the corporate is in cost-cutting mode, and is predicted to announce extra layoffs within the coming weeks, the folks mentioned.
In January, Flexport laid off about 20% of the corporate’s workforce, or roughly 640 workers.
— CNBC’s Rohan Goswami contributed to this report.
WATCH: Flexport CEO Petersen on firm’s plan to reinvest earnings
