Flexport CEO Dave Clark steps down

Dave Clark, the prominent ex-Amazon executive who was instrumental in building the company’s supply chain apparatus, announced on Wednesday that he is leaving Flexport, a global freight forwarding company valued at $8 billion.

Clark officially joined Flexport in September 2022 as co-CEO with Flexport founder Ryan Petersen. Clark, according to plan, assumed the role of CEO in March, while Petersen became Flexport’s executive chairman. 

There has been a change of plans, a Flexport representative confirmed.

“Today, Dave Clark resigned as CEO of Flexport,” the representative said in an emailed to FreightWaves. “Founder Ryan Petersen will be returning as CEO. Ryan and the rest of the board thank Dave Clark for his leadership over the past year. Flexport has nothing further to share on this matter at this time.”

Clark emailed the staff that new Wednesday afternoon. Two minutes after the email was delivered to Flexport’s staff of approximately 3,200 workers (with the email subject “Thank you Flexport.”), Clark posted the text on X, formerly known as Twitter.  

“Founders have the right to change their mind,” Clark wrote in a statement attached to his Wednesday morning post on X. “I came to Flexport to do big things and that’s where I believe we were headed. Today, Ryan and I discussed his desire to return to focusing on growth in the core freight business. In light of that, I feel that he is best suited to lead the company in that direction. As such, I will be resigning from my position at Flexport.”

Just over an hour after Clark’s post on X, Petersen — known for his cheeky tone on the social media site — posted “I’m back!!!”

The leadership shuffle appears to be sudden. On Tuesday, the day before Clark stepped down, Flexport advertised an in-person event to launch a new product hosted by Clark and Petersen.

While at Flexport, Clark hired several key ex-Amazon people for roles at the company, including its chief commercial officer and senior vice president of operations and the leadership for its new truck brokerage.

Flexport laid off about 20% of its staff, or 700 workers, in January amid a global slowdown in trade volumes.

Petersen announced in July that he was becoming a partner of the Founders Fund, a leading venture capital firm led by billionaire Peter Thiel.

This is a developing story.

Are you a current or former Flexport employee with a story to share? Contact rpremack@freightwaves.com. 

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Source: freightwaves - Flexport CEO Dave Clark steps down
Editor: Rachel Premack