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• Dave Clark, the longtime Amazon executive who lost the CEO sweepstakes there to Andy Jassy and then left to become CEO of freight forwarder Flexport about a year ago, now is stepping down from the company. He will be succeeded by Ryan Petersen, Flexport's founder, who he replaced in September 2022.
The Wall Street Journal writes that "Clark made a flurry of executive hires at the company over the past year as he sought to extend Flexport’s nuts-and-bolts freight operations deeper into a factory-to-door distribution service. Flexport in May acquired the logistics operations of e-commerce platform Shopify, including fulfillment provider Deliverr and a network of warehouses, a move that added last-mile services."
The Information writes: "You can guess at a couple of things that went wrong. For one thing, while freight rates skyrocketed a couple of years ago thanks to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and a surge in online shopping, those rates began falling shortly after Clark joined Flexport. Secondly, Shopify’s June decision to sell logistics firm Deliverr at a big loss, just a year after buying it, demonstrated the immense costs involved in building an Amazon-scale logistic network … Perhaps Petersen realized it was simply too expensive a task."
The Journal writes that the now-unemployed Clark "has hired political consultants to advise him on a potential 2026 run for governor of Texas, where he resides, according to people familiar with the matter. Greg Abbott, a Texas Republican, is currently serving a third term as governor … people familiar with the matter characterized Clark as a moderate Republican. Abbott handily won re-election in November, beating Democrat Beto O’Rourke. It is unclear if he will run for an unprecedented fourth four-year term in 2026."
• SpartanNash announced that Bennett Morgan, the company's senior vice president/chief merchandising officer, has been promoted to the role of executive vice president/chief merchandising officer. Morgan is a former executive at Amazon, Walmart and H-E-B.
• Lidl US announced that Joel Rampoldt, formerly a partner and managing director at AlixPartners, has been named president of the company.
• BP announced that Debi Boffa, an 11-year veteran of the company who most recently was president of its Retail Operating Organization, has been promoted to the role of CEO of its Travel Centers of America division.
