Ryder System announced Wednesday, May 28, that it has selected industry veteran John H. Williford to serve in the newly created position of president of global supply chain solutions. He will be responsible for management, operations, sales and marketing, and financial performance of Ryder’s Supply Chain Solutions global business segment.
Williford’s appointment concludes an internal and external search announced in November 2007 as part of the company’s strategic decision to implement a global management structure to fully integrate its support of Supply Chain Solutions and Dedicated Contract Carriage customers, wherever they may operate around the world.
“We are very pleased to welcome John to Ryder’s management team,” says Greg Swienton, chairman and chief executive officer of Miami-based Ryder. “He brings a well-earned industry reputation and a track record of proven results in global logistics leadership. His experience will support our efforts to apply Ryder’s strengths in a consistent way for the company’s increasingly global Supply Chain Solutions customer base. John will add to the current outstanding leadership, expertise, capabilities and customer relationships that exist within Ryder’s domestic and international Supply Chain Solutions operations. We also believe John’s extensive experience within this industry will enable him to achieve a smooth, efficient transition into this important global role.”
Williford – who will begin in his new role on June 23, reporting directly to Swienton as a member of Ryder’s leadership team – comes to Ryder from Golden Gate Logistics, a Palo Alto Calif.-based logistics company, for which he has served as president and CEO since 2006. Prior to that role, Williford spent 25 years as part of Consolidated Freightways-CNF, serving most recently in a senior executive position as president and CEO of the company’s supply chain business, Menlo Worldwide.
Menlo was created in 1990 when Williford, then serving as CNF’s director of marketing, proposed the creation of a separate business unit within CNF to capitalize on opportunities in the growing field of outsourced logistics. During his tenure, Menlo Worldwide grew to become an integrated global forwarding and logistics provider with about 12,000 employees operating in more than 100 countries.
