After 46 years at UPS, CEO David Abney is stepping down from his role at UPS.
Carol Tomé’s heading out of retirement and into the fire after David Abney announced he is to step down from the chief executive position at UPS, the 10th largest private employer in the United States.
Abney will serve as board chairman until he retires in September, but will remain as a special consultant through the end of 2020, the company said. Tomé, on the other hand, takes her first full-time role since ending her 18-year stint as Home Depot’s CFO last year. She has been a member of the UPS board of directors since 2003 and currently served as the chairperson of its audit committee. Tomé is largely credited, per The Wall Street Journal, with repairing Home Depot after the 2008 financial crisis—an experience that’ll come in handy as the country heads towards another recession.
According to Morning Brew, Amazon is pouring money into its own logistics network, reducing an important rev stream for UPS. So Tomé will likely work to speed up UPS’s delivery systems to keep pace with growing e-comm demand.
“If someone is going to disrupt our business, it should be us. We have the largest and most sophisticated logistics network,” said David Abney to our readers during his chat with CEO North America. “All companies, including UPS, have got to transform. They have to change as quickly as the new technologies. And it’s no good when a company progresses more slowly than its customers.”
“UPS has been one of my life’s passions and through UPS I have been able to live the American dream,” David Abney said in a statement. “I am extremely pleased for Carol and know she is the best choice to lead the company (…) She understands UPS’s culture and values, is a strategic leader and possesses a customer-first mindset.”
“Carol is one of the most respected and talented leaders in corporate America and has a proven track record of driving growth at a global organization, maximizing shareholder value, developing talent and successfully executing against strategic priorities,” said William Johnson, the chair of UPS’s nominating and corporate governance committee and a member of the executive committee.
