Seko Logistics Elevates Wascher to Chairman
Chicago-based freight forwarder Seko Logistics has shuffled its top management team in a move designed to help the company focus on expansion opportunities in the year ahead.
“We’re ready to grow at an even faster pace,” said Bill Wascher, who will give up his role as CEO to become chairman and will lead the expansion effort.
James Gagne will become CEO. He had been president since January 2017.
Seko's Shawn Richard takes over the new post of vice president of global airfreight. (Seko Logistics)
“We’re evaluating tuck-in acquisitions, partners and out-of-the-box expansion opportunities,” Wascher said in a statement. “This includes engaging with small independent forwarders that want to hear about the value of joining our network as well as technology companies in the logistics space that want to join forces with Seko.”
Wascher, who has been president and CEO since 2002, said he expects to announce a “watershed expansion” for Seko in terms of its global reach at the end of the first quarter.
“We may partner, we may buy,” Wascher noted. “The first thing for other companies to realize is that we’re ready to listen and able to demonstrate what coming together with Seko can do for them and their customers.”
Gagne said Seko is in “the most exciting period in its 40-plus-year history with new opportunities being presented to us around the world by customers, partners and suppliers.”
In February, Seko opened a new 80,000 square-foot distribution center in Amsterdam to support U.S. retailers looking to sell their products in Europe.
Organic growth alone, however, “is not going to be fast enough to satisfy our ambitions in the coming years,” Gagne said.
In a related executive move, Seko named Shawn Richard to a new post of vice president of global airfreight. He will be responsible for procuring capacity for cross-border e-commerce shipments, a business that accounts for 50% of Seko’s airfreight volume. Richard previously worked as chief operating officer at Worldnet Shipping USA and as a regional sales manager for Delta Air Lines Cargo.
Seko, which started as a domestic freight forwarder in 1976, provides a full range of logistics services, including order fulfillment and delivery, airfreight and ocean freight transportation and warehousing. The company has 120 offices in 40 countries.
Seko Logistics ranks No. 33 for airfreight forwarders on the Transport Topics list of Top 50 logistics companies in North America.
