Dave Clark

Flexport is planning to focus more on its core freight business under the leadership of executive chairman Ryan Petersen, who founded the company in 2013 and is taking over as the chief executive, replacing Dave Clark, the long-time Amazon executive he recruited a year ago to fill the CEO spot.

Flexport confirmed the executive changes. Its website today did not list Clark among the leadership.

Flexport CEO changes

Flexport provides a range of freight-management services and lists as clients such companies as Georgia-Pacific, Bombas and Gerber. Earlier this year, it agreed to acquire Shopify Logistics from the Shopify ecommerce technology company to handle last-mile delivery services for Shopify merchants.

Clark joined Flexport a year ago, serving alongside Petersen as co-CEO before taking over as the sole top executive in March.

“We built a great tech at rapid speeds, especially the flagship SMB product for small business that we are launching for entrepreneurs tomorrow,” Clark said yesterday on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

Clark indicated that he was leaving on good terms.

Ryan Petersen, founder and executive chairman, Flexport

“Founders have the right to change their mind,” he said on X  yesterday. “I came to Flexport to do big things, and that’s where I believe we were headed. Today, Ryan and I discussed his desire to return to focusing on growth in the core freight business. In light of that, I feel that he is best suited to lead the company in that direction. As such, I will be resigning from my position at Flexport.”

Clark is now considering a run to become governor of Texas and has hired political consultants, according to a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal.

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Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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