C.H. Robinson angling hard for Barber to run company

Barber had retired in early 2020 as chief operating officer at UPS Inc. (NYSE: UPS) after spending 37 years there. Prior to his appointment as COO, Barber spent five years running UPS International, with responsibility for distribution, freight forwarding, small-package delivery, customs brokerage and compliance, and UPS’ other service offerings in more than 220 countries and territories outside the U.S. 

Barber announced his retirement at the end of 2019 after it became clear he would not succeed David P. Abney in the CEO job. That position eventually went to Carol B. Tomé, who became CEO in June 2020.

One source said that Barber, for all his experience and qualifications built up over many years at UPS, may not be the “tech-forward” CEO that Robinson needs at this time. Robinson needs a top executive who can blend technology and transportation capabilities, the source said. 

The person does “not need to come from Silicon Valley. But they must be tech forward,” the source said. “I don’t consider UPS particularly tech forward.”

However, Brittain Ladd, a longtime supply chain consultant, said the move would be a “great choice” for Robinson. The fact that Barber is not involved in day-to-day operations means that he would be less reluctant to make major needed IT and operational changes, Ladd said in an email Friday. 

Ladd said that he never listed Barber as a CEO candidate because he didn’t think that Barber would be interested in another full-time job after UPS. 

Ladd had hoped that Robinson would have merged with the likes of freight forwarder Flexport and hired Dave Clark, who now runs Flexport after years at the top logistics position at Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), to run the combined company. However, Ladd said Friday that he didn’t think such a scenario would be realistic in the eyes of Robinson’s board and search committee.

An industry source said that Barber has the depth and breadth of knowledge gained at UPS to apply them successfully at Robinson. “There isn’t anything about CHR’s business that the man does not know,” the source said.

Robinson has struggled in recent months amid concerns about increased competition from the likes of new broker RXO Inc. (NYSE: RXO). However, it has lost market share in general in what has been a historically strong environment for contract brokerage, from which Robinson generates most of its revenue.

Robinson also overspent significantly on personnel to support load-matching technology that executives thought would disrupt traditional brokerage but has failed to generate the expected returns on investment. One of the sources in January criticized Robinson for investing $1 billion in IT projects, including the much publicized Navisphere load-matching platform that never lived up to expectations.

Biesterfeld “bought into the digital disruption” theory that would eventually cost him his job, a source said in January.