Expeditors International Promotes Jeffrey Musser To Succeed Peter Rose As CEO

(RTTNews) - Global logistics company Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) announced Thursday the promotion of Chief Information Officer Jeffrey Musser to president and chief executive officer of the company. Musser will succeed Peter Rose as CEO, effective March 1, 2014.

"Jeff has distinguished himself at every level of endeavor throughout his 31-year career at Expeditors. Throughout that time, Jeff has never been given an assignment where he hasn't exceeded expectations," Rose said in a statement.

Rose had announced his retirement on October 7 as part of a succession plan, but he will remain chairman until the annual meeting in May 2015 and assist Musser in a smooth transition.

Rose, age 69, retires after serving at Expeditors since 1981 when the company began with six offices, 20 people and $300,000 and has now grown to a company with nearly $6 billion of revenue. Rose has served as CEO for the past quarter of a century since October 1988.

The Seattle, Washington-based company had previously announced that a CEO selection committee will select the replacement for Rose from among a list of qualified internal candidates identified in consultation with Rose and the executive leadership.

"As a result of our rigorous selection process, the committee recognized Mr. Musser's mix of tenure and his unique portfolio of experience, having had both field and global corporate leadership responsibilities, combined with his background in the increasingly critical information technology (IT) discipline, as differentiating factors in the selection process," said Robert Wright, Lead Independent Director.

The company noted that selection committee recommended Rose's name and it was unanimously approved by the full board of directors earlier in the day.

Musser, age 47, joined Expeditors International in February 1983 and spent the first 22 years of his career in progressively responsible roles in field operations where he also became a licensed customs broker. He served as district manager since 1989, regional vice president since September 1999 and as senior vice president since January 2005.

In the past nine years, Musser has served as chief information officer since January 2005, and as executive vice president since May 2009.

"His commitment to our employees, our customers and to our service providers is proven and unquestioned. His IT knowledge is critical. He's been a messenger, he's been a DM, he's been an RVP and he's been our corporate CIO for nine years and excelled at all. He's always 'walked the talk.' To use a phrase with an uniquely Expeditors meaning…'Jeff gets it!'…and he's always 'gotten it' and he'll always 'get it,' Rose stated.

EXPD closed Thursday's regular trading session at $42.96, down $1.14 or 0.32% on a volume of 0.90 million shares.