MD Logistics has announced executive personnel changes, including the retirement of Bob Whitney, general manager, and the appointment of two new executive positions: Jeff Luthman as vice president of distribution operations and John Sell as vice president of freight forwarding and value-added solutions.
In addition, Chad Hodges has been promoted to director of logistics services, and Tim Lawyer will replace Hodges as manager of shared logistics.
Whitney’s 40-year transportation career has included opening four terminals in Indianapolis for different freight lines, working his way up to director of Spartan Express in Greer, South Carolina, until he entered the freight forwarding business with SEKO Worldwide in 1995. In 1999, he became general manager for MD Logistics and was promoted to vice president/general manager in 2002.
“Bob’s leadership and maturity over the last ten years has led to tremendous growth and opportunity for our organization,” stated Mark Sell. “His dedication to the business and to all of us will be missed but always remembered and appreciated. We will miss him but at the same time celebrate him as he moves on to a much-deserved retirement at the end of this year.”
Luthman has 25 years of director-level experience at Fortune 100 companies, including Ford Motor Company and Bristol Myers Squibb in both manufacturing and pharmaceutical distribution.
“Jeff will be responsible for both the dedicated and shared pharma business as well as consumer electronics,” stated Mark Sell, MDL CEO. “He will continue in his current role of strategic business development. He has an innate knowledge of the customer’s business processes and key areas of opportunity and will assure we continue to deliver creative solutions to our valued customers.”
John Sell has been a member of the MD Logistics team since 1996, holding a variety of positions, including international freight forwarding operations, manager of information technology and director of sales. He has been consistently recognized for outstanding sales achievements by SEKO Worldwide.
“John, in his expanded role, will continue to oversee business development in both sales and operations of our important and growing freight forwarding activities including SEKO Worldwide and MD Express,” explained Mark Sell. “He will also be responsible for our shared logistics operations. This is a natural progression as our shared logistics operations are becoming more tied to our freight forwarding and freight management offering.”
“Chad will now be responsible for MD Packaging Services and shared pharmaceutical logistics. He will take the lead role in the development and deployment of our new warehouse management system slated for 2010,” explained Mark Sell. “His experience gained over the last several years in all areas of our business makes him uniquely qualified to manage this endeavor.”
“Tim’s extensive experience includes more than 13 years in the warehousing and supply-chain industry,” stated Mark Sell. “He has spent the past two years as operations manager in our dedicated consumer electronics facility, where his successes include streamlining efficiencies and providing innovative solutions.”
“We are now offering a fully integrated supply chain solution to our customers to and from anywhere in the world and complimenting that offering with our value-added third party logistics operation here in Plainfield and across the U.S. These management changes will allow us to better serve our customers whatever their needs and wherever they’re located,” Mark Sell concluded.
