Executive Moves: Transplace, TAPA, Thordon Bearings

   Transplace has hired former Walmart SVP Tracy Rosser as executive vice president of operations. 
   Rosser, who will be based out of the company’s Lowell, Ark., Center of Excellence, will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and direction for Transplace’s transportation management business unit.
   “Tracy’s strong leadership abilities and proven experience in leading multibillion dollar, multi-facility operations at the national level will accelerate and enhance our ability to deliver innovative, best-in-the-industry logistics solutions to help our customers optimally manage their supply chains,” said CEO Frank McGuigan.
   Rosser comes to Transplace after more than 22 years at Walmart, for which he most recently served as senior vice president of transportation and supply chain. His responsibilities included all domestic and global transportation, strategy, procurement, Walmart’s private fleet and last-mile and supply chain services.
   He also had several other leadership positions while at Walmart, including senior vice president of store operations, vice president of transportation and director of transportation. Prior to joining Walmart, Rosser spent nine years in the truckload transportation industry in positions in sales, marketing and operations.


   The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) has appointed Thorsten Neumann (pictured above) as its first full-time president and CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
   Neumann, who will assume his new role on June 1, is tasked with growing the end-to-end supply chain resilience association and delivering more risk management solutions for TAPA’s membership of manufacturers, logistics service providers and other supply chain security stakeholders. He had served in a voluntary capacity as chairman of TAPA’s EMEA region since 2006. 
   He began his global supply chain security career with Motorola Mobility in 1998 and joined Nokia in 2008. In 2015, Neumann joined Microsoft Corp. and most recently was the director of APS channel security and business resilience.
   “TAPA celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017 and this milestone presented an opportunity to look at what we had achieved to support our members’ supply chain security and, more importantly, to think about the future,” said Jason Breakwell, vice chair of TAPA EMEA, who added that “the appointment of a president and CEO for TAPA EMEA is now so important because it gives us the consistency and stability of leadership we need. It heralds the next stage of our ambition to take supply chain resilience into the boardrooms of even more industry leaders and for it to become embedded in their corporate strategies.”
   Breakwell added that Marcel Saarloos, EMEA supply chain security manager for HP, will become chairman of TAPA EMEA. 


   Canadian company Thordon Bearings has hired Neil Cooper as vice president of sales to drive continued growth in the global water-lubricated bearings market.
   Cooper previously held senior sales positions with Armstrong Fluid Technologies, Schneider Electric and ABB.
   He will be responsible for sales across Thordon Bearings’ key market sectors, including marine, offshore, hydropower and industrial.
   Thomson-Gordon Group President and CEO Terry McGowan said the company looked forward to Cooper leading “our sales efforts as we position the company for significant and sustained growth.”