Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021:
Daseke CEO steps down
Chris Easter has retired as chief executive officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of flatbed conglomerate Daseke, Inc. (CCJ Top 250, No. 22), the company announced Tuesday. Initially joining Daseke as its chief operational officer in January 2019, Easter had served as CEO for the last 11 months following a six month stint as interim CEO.
Chris Easter“This has been a very difficult decision for me personally, but I have a number of family-related obligations that need my full attention,” Easter said. “As a result, I made the decision to retire from Daseke at the end of the year.”
Prior to Daseke, Easter had served in transportation and logistics roles with the U.S. Army, Walmart and Schneider National, and also served as CEO of Keen Transport.
Daseke Director Jonathan Shepko has been appointed as interim CEO while an executive search firm seeks Easter’s full-time successor.
Board Chairman Brian Bonner thanked Easter for helping “reset our operational strategy and [building] a solid leadership team with decades of transportation experience. The Board is confident in the team’s ability to execute on our current strategy and guide Daseke to a bright future,” he said. “The Board respects Chris’ decision to retire and we wish him the very best in the future.”
XPO completes large European acquisition
XPO Logistics announced it has completed an acquisition of the majority of global freight firm Kuehne + Nagel’s contract logistics operations in the UK and Ireland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The operations provide a range of logistics services, including inbound and outbound distribution, reverse logistics management and inventory management, XPO said.
The transaction expands XPO’s contract logistics network in the UK and Ireland to 248 locations and approximately 26,000 employees.
