LONG BEACH, Calif., April 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UTi Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq:UTIW), a global supply chain services and solutions provider, announced that Ditlev Blicher and Hessel Verhage have been appointed as co-presidents of the company's global freight forwarding business. Both had served the company in regional leadership roles and continue to report to Chief Executive Officer Ed Feitzinger.
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"Ditlev and Hessel are a great combination to lead our forwarding business and have already started seizing the opportunities we enjoy as a more nimble forwarder," Feitzinger said. "With their leadership of the global network, we have re-empowered our area teams to drive local growth, understand client needs, manage productivity, and improve country-specific cash flow."
Blicher leads UTi's 10 area teams in Asia and Europe, and Verhage leads UTi's six area teams in Africa and the Americas. They share leadership responsibility for freight forwarding support functions.
"We dramatically simplified the forwarding organization structure," Feitzinger said. "We eliminated layers at the corporate, regional, and country levels, leaving us with our branches, our area teams, and the freight forwarding business line management under Ditlev and Hessel. This aligns accountability to the local market requirements of the 16 key areas of our business. It also reaffirms our commitment to our clients' service needs, which are based in part on deep knowledge of local markets while still needing the consistency of a global network. By streamlining our leadership team and our geographic structure, we are better positioned to serve our clients and maximize the growth potential of our business."
Ditlev Blicher, co-president of Freight Forwarding, had served as President, Asia Pacific, since joining UTi in June 2013. He spent 17 years with CEVA, where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, Group Operations for CEVA Logistics, where he oversaw more than 1,300 facilities worldwide and was responsible for standardizing CEVA's global operations, including the rollout of worldwide processes and operating systems. During his tenure with CEVA, he spent 10 years in Asia, culminating in the role of Executive Vice President, North Asia. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Northwood University and completed executive studies at Oxford University.
Hessel Verhage, co-president of Freight Forwarding, had served as President, Freight Forwarding Americas, since August 2014. He joined UTi in April 2014 as Global Vice President, Trade Services and Compliance, and as Interim Leader of the Americas ocean product team, bringing more than 20 years of freight forwarding experience. He was Vice President of International Operations for AIT Worldwide, a global shipping solutions provider, from January 2012 to April 2014. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Global Link Logistics, a mid-sized ocean freight forwarding company, and before that, held various sales and operational roles, including Director of Global Ocean Services at Emery/Menlo Worldwide. He served in the U.S. Army and holds a B.S. degree in economics from East Carolina University.
About UTi Worldwide
UTi Worldwide Inc. is an international, non-asset-based supply chain services and solutions company providing air and ocean freight forwarding, contract logistics, customs brokerage, distribution, inbound logistics, truckload brokerage and other supply chain management services. The company serves a large and diverse base of global and local companies, including clients operating in industries with unique supply chain requirements such as the retail, apparel, chemical, automotive, pharmaceutical, and technology industries. The company seeks to use its global network, proprietary information technology systems, relationships with transportation providers and expertise in outsourced logistics services to deliver competitive advantage to each of its clients' supply chains.
