C.H. Robinson taps Biesterfeld as CEO

The global 3PL’s current chief operating officer will succeed John Wiehoff, who will retain his role as chairman of the board.    Third-party logistics services provider C.H. Robinson has designated its Chief Operating Officer Robert Biesterfeld to become CEO, effective May 9.
   Biesterfeld, who was named COO in March 2018, succeeds John Wiehoff, who has served as the company’s CEO for the past 17 years. Wiehoff will retain his current role as chairman.
  The C.H Robinson board of directors credited Wiehoff for increasing the company’s total revenues by more than 500 percent to $16.6 billion during his tenure as CEO. 
   “Most importantly, John has built a strong culture of performance and a team of talented employees that provide industry-leading logistics expertise to our customers and carriers,” said Scott Anderson, a C.H. Robinson board member, in a statement on Monday.
   Biesterfeld, 43, joined C.H. Robinson 20 years ago. Prior to becoming COO, he was the company’s president for North America surface transportation. He also served as vice president of truckload and vice president of Robinson Fresh.
   “He has been the driving force behind our digital transformation efforts, accelerating the pace of innovation and technology deployment across our platform,” Wiehoff said. “He is an established leader with the right experiences and skills for the next chapter of Robinson.”
   Also on Monday, C.H. Robinson appointed Andrew Coldrey to vice president of the Oceania region, following the December retirement of Mike Smith after more than 30 years with the company. Coldrey, who has worked with the company’s Melbourne, Australia-based Oceania operation since 1995, will report to Mike Short, C.H. Robinson’s president of global forwarding.  
   Based in Eden Prairie, Minn., and publicly traded since 1997, C.H. Robinson has become one of the largest 3PLs, with over 15,000 employees providing logistics services, fresh produce sourcing and managed services to more than 124,000 customers worldwide.