Transplace names Sage as CMO to support "hyper-growth mode"

Third-party logistics (3PL) provider Transplace has named Karen Sage as chief marketing officer (CMO) in a move to support the company's fast expansion in "hyper-growth mode," the firm said yesterday.

Sage had previously served as CMO for transportation management systems (TMS) software vendor MercuryGate International Inc., which was acquired in 2018 by the Boston-based private equity firm Summit Partners.

In her new job, she will report directly to Transplace CEO Frank McGuigan and will lead the sales operations, corporate communications, and all marketing strategies and functions. "Karen is a dynamic and deeply experienced marketing executive whose leadership, insights, market expertise and creative approach will be invaluable as we move into this next stage of development for the Transplace brand," McGuigan said in a release. "The company is in hyper-growth mode and having a leader of Karen's caliber ensures we continue to put our customer experience first and are able to grow and scale rapidly."

The move followed another series of shifting seats in the industry, as retail giant Walmart Inc. hired the former Amazon.com Inc. and Google executive Suresh Kumar as its global chief technology officer. The company said Kumar "joins at a time when Walmart is rapidly transforming its customer and associate experiences," and will report directly to Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon, bearing the newly created title of chief technology officer and chief development officer role.

Kumar was most recently at Google, serving as vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads and analytics. Prior to Google, he was the corporate vice president of Microsoft's cloud infrastructure and operations, and he spent 15 years at Amazon, serving as vice president of technology for retail systems and operations and leading the e-commerce behemoth's retail supply chain and inventory management systems.

Also this week, the Raleigh, N.C.-based supply chain consulting firm Tompkins International said it had named new executives as chief commercial officer, chief strategy officer, and chief technology officer. Jim Herman will be CCO, Gene Tyndall will be CSO, and Jeffrey Godwin will be CTO.

Elsewhere in the sector, U.K.-based digital freight matching platform Ontruck hired Nolan Andelin, former senior manager of product operations at ride-hailing pioneer Uber, and Samuel McGuirk, former head of global operations at Just Eat, the online food delivery marketplace. Andelin will now be head of marketplace, tasked with consolidating Ontruck's marketplace business strategy, and McGuirk will be head of U.K. operations.