Sappio, former APL exec, joins A&M

Sappio

   Business advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has appointed Robert Sappio to managing director. 
   Prior to joining A&M, Sappio spent nearly 30 years with APL, most recently serving as senior vice president in charge of trade and marketing activities for the liner carrier in transpacific, transatlantic and Latin American regions. 
   “His breadth and depth of industry experience in shipping, transport and retail make him an invaluable addition to our firm, especially in these volatile economic times as companies seek to improve their operating performance,” said Tom Elsenbrook, head of A&M Business Consulting. 
   Sappio had been in charge of APL’s transpacific trade since 2003 and was a highly visible figure for the company and its representative to carrier groups such as the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement. In 2010, he represented the industry at congressional hearings in Washington on container shipping. 
   “I’ve devoted my entire career to APL — a company I have tremendous affection and respect for,” said Sappio at the time of his departure from the carrier in June. “But family priorities are most important, and I’ve made the decision to stay closer to home and remain in California where my family has established deep roots.” 
   In April 2009, APL moved its Americas headquarters from Oakland, Calif., to Phoenix, as part of cost-cutting measures the company said would reduce its global workforce by about 1,000 positions. 
   In a telephone interview Tuesday, Sappio said that while job offers within the ocean shipping industry were available, he didn’t want to be in a position where he may be competing with his former long-time employer APL. He started working with privately held A&M in early October and “enjoys the entrepreneurial spirit” of the firm, which specializes in turning around distressed companies. 
   At A&M, Sappio will be the subject matter expert on container shipping and intermodal transport. 
   “The shipping industry in the next 12 to 20 months will have its challenges,” he said. “It’s my hope that the container shipping industry pulls itself together and learns lessons from the not too distant past.”