Petersen Returns as Flexport’s CEO as Clark Resigns

Flexport founder Ryan Petersen will retake the reigns of the privately-held San Francisco-based supply chain management and logistics company following the resignation of Dave Clark, a former Amazon executive who took over as Flexport CEO a little over six months ago.

The management change was announced Wednesday by Clark and confirmed by Petersen on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Clark took over as Flexport’s CEO in March after co-leading the company for a six-month stretch alongside Petersen. The former Amazon executive spent two decades rising through the ranks to become CEO of Amazon’s consumer business and is credited with overseeing the e-commerce company’s transportation network buildout for sellers. At Flexport, Clark looked to repeat that growth.

However, macroeconomic conditions put the freight market under pressure as the pandemic-fueled surge in global trade came to an abrupt halt. In January, Flexport announced it would be slashing its 3,200-strong workforce by 20%.

Petersen, who founded Flexport in 2013, led the company through a period of explosive growth and fundraising, growing the company from just $2 million in revenue in 2014 to $5 billion in 2022. With Clark at the helm, Petersen has continued his involvement with company leadership as Executive Chairman.

“Founders have the right to change their mind,” Clark wrote in a post on X. “I came to Flexport to do big things and that’s where I believe we were headed. Today, Ryan and I discussed his desire to return to focussing on growth in the core freight business. In light of that, I feel that he is best suited to lead the company in that direction. As such, I will be resigning from my position at Flexport.”

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