Logistics veteran Tony Brooks to head XPO’s LTL operation

The acquisition-heavy third-party logistics provider found an industry insider, rather than an external candidate, to run the recently-purchased former Con-way Freight business.    XPO Logistics on Wednesday named Tony Brooks, a veteran logistics and trucking executive, to head its new less-than-truckload operation in North America.
   The fast-rising, global third-party logistics provider added LTL capability with the acquisition last week of Con-way Inc., the second largest carrier in the U.S. piece shipment truck sector.
   Brooks joined XPO from global food distributor Sysco, where he was responsible for North American field operations. Prior to Sysco, he served as senior vice president of logistics for Dean Foods, where he was responsible for logistics, delivery, warehousing and fleet management. Brooks also worked for more than a decade for Sears and before that at PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, where he was responsible for regional transportation, fleet, warehousing and inventory management.
   “Tony is a high impact player with 11 years in LTL, who has run three of the largest fleets in North America. Over his 30-year career, he has held senior operating positions with best-in-class organizations,” Bradley Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of XPO Logistics, said in a statement.
   Jacobs, who is temporarily running the Con-way Freight operation himself, had said on several occasions since announcing plans on Sept. 9 to acquire Con-way for $3 billion that he was looking for someone with change-management and cost-cutting skills, and that candidates could come from outside the trucking industry.
    In an interview with American Shipper during the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals annual conference in San Diego on Sept. 28, Jacobs said having a trucking executive in charge of Con-way Freight was not imperative.
   “Con-way has a large number of LTL experts as managers, who very adept at the blocking and tackling of daily operations. What I’m looking for is an extremely talented senior executive who can drive large-scale transformation, and has been there and done that when it comes to driving out hundreds of millions of dollars in cost, and when it comes to redesign of a back office.
   “So there are very specific skills that transcend LTL expertise. There’s plenty of LTL expertise in the management ranks at Con-way,” the serial entrepreneur said.
   Jacobs created XPO with the acquisition of Express 1, a truck brokerage firm, in September 2011 and through more than a dozen acquisitions has quickly built it up to a 3PL giant with pro forma revenues of $15 billion and capabilities in truck brokerage, international freight management, warehousing and distribution, supply chain management and trucking.
   XPO does not plan to retain most of the senior executives at Con-way because “we’ll be bringing in a fresh set of eyes to look at things in a new way,” Jacobs said in the interview.
   Company officials have said Con-way Freight is well run operationally, but that much more can be done to significantly boost profits.