Dive Brief:
- A pair of J.B. Hunt Transport Services executives will swap responsibilities on Dec. 1, the company announced Monday.
- Nick Hobbs, who will remain COO, is taking over as president of highway and final mile services from Brad Hicks, who will take Hobbs’ job as president of dedicated contract services. David Keefauver was named EVP of people, Hicks’ other current role.
- J.B. Hunt President and CEO Shelley Simpson, to whom all three will report, said in the announcement that the changes will “address the potential we see across the company as we move into 2025.”
Dive Insight:
While the latest executive changes follow a broader changing of the guard at J.B. Hunt, the carrier prides itself on its leaders’ development and longevity with the company.
Hobbs has 40 years with J.B. Hunt; Hicks and Keefauver, formerly EVP of dedicated contract services, have worked with the carrier for 28 and 29 years, respectively.
“As we prepare for an eventual turn in the freight market, we have focused our entire organization on being operationally excellent,” Simpson said. “The strength and resiliency of our organization is supported by our mode neutral approach and the consistency, tenure and expertise of our people and executive leadership team.”
Hobbs will oversee the company’s truckload and brokerage units, with EVP of Highway Services Eric McGee and EVP of Final Mile Services Brian Webb remaining in their current roles to support him, according to the company.
The leadership shuffle followed a $3.3 million net loss for the company’s brokerage unit last quarter — although that represented a year-over-year improvement from a $9.4 million loss in Q3 2023.
The shift will be a return to Dedicated for Hicks, who served as EVP of the unit from 2017 to 2020.
