(UPDATED April 14, 2020, 10:15 a.m. ET)
FedEx Corp. announced Monday that John Dietrich will step down as chief financial officer on June 1 upon successful completion of the spin-off of FedEx Freight into a new publicly traded company.
No reason was given for Dietrich’s departure. He will remain with the company until July 31.
Claude Russ, enterprise vice president of finance, will serve as interim CFO while the company conducts a comprehensive internal and external search for a successor. FedEx (NYSE: FDX) affirmed its fiscal year 2026 outlook, which was shared on its last earnings call, along with the 2029 targets shared at its Investor Day in February.
Dietrich joined FedEx as CFO in August 2023 after serving as CEO of all-cargo airline Atlas Air. He played a key role in implementing FedEx’s initiative for eliminating billions of dollars in structural costs, the Network 2.0 consolidation strategy, the Tricolor restructuring of the airline to better align capacity with service levels and the planned spin off of FedEx Freight, which have helped the company produce several quarters of solid profit growth. FedEx stock price is up 38% during Dietrich’s tenure as CFO.
“I want to thank John for his many contributions to the FedEx leadership team over the last several years as we successfully navigated a significant company transformation and delivered on the upcoming spin of our Freight business,” said Raj Subramaniam, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corporation. “As we begin the search for John’s successor, I am confident that Claude’s wealth of experience will ensure seamless continuity and commitment to advancing our strategy.”
Russ currently leads the global financial planning and analysis team as well as the finance initiatives within the company’s Drive campaign to root out structural waste. He has served in a variety of leadership roles during his 24 years at FedEx, including as chief operating officer of FedEx Dataworks, senior vice president of revenue management at FedEx Services, and CFO of FedEx Freight.
Bank of America analyst Ken Hoextra said in a client note that the timing of Dietrich’s departure is unnerving for investors after FedEx hosted an Investor Day in February in which it laid out 2029 financial targets. FedEx last month said it expects fiscal year 2026 revenue to grow 6.25% at the mid range vs. 5.5%, with adjusted EPS of $19.30 to $20.10, up from the prior range of $17.80 to $19.
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Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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