FedEx realigns finance suite, recruits new CFO from Atlas Air

Parcel giant FedEx Corp. has turned to the air freight industry to recruit its latest new executive, tapping Atlas Air Worldwide CEO John Dietrich to become FedEx’ executive vice president and chief financial officer.

When Dietrich steps into the role on August 1, he will replace Michael Lenz, who had announced in June that he would be stepping down after 18 years with the company.

Memphis-based FedEx today also announced “strategic shifts” within its finance organization to further bolster its ongoing transformation, realigning and expanding the job assignments of its corporate vice president and principal accounting officer, Jennifer L. Johnson, its senior vice president of finance, Leslie M. Benners, and its COO of FedEx Dataworks, Claude F. Russ.

“The evolution of our Finance leadership team is critical to our transformation as we continue to build a more intelligent, flexible and efficient network,” FedEx’ President and CEO, Raj Subramaniam, said in a release. “I am pleased to welcome John to FedEx. He is an accomplished and seasoned leader in the transportation industry whose unique combination of financial and operational expertise is a strong complement to the existing executive leadership team at this important time for the company. His appointment, along with the other strategic changes within the Finance leadership team, will further strengthen our ability to generate efficiencies, improve margins, and enhance returns.”

The company has been on a cost-cutting mission in recent months, announcing in June that all FedEx Ground operations and personnel in Canada would transition to FedEx Express Canada starting in April 2024.

In additional recent overhauls, Subramaniam has been marching the organization through a cost-trimming strategy he calls Network 2.0. In April he said the company would consolidate most of its operational companies into a single organization, bringing FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Services, and other units into an umbrella unit called Federal Express Corp.

Before joining FedEx, Dietrich had held numerous leadership roles at Atlas Air since 1999, including serving as president and CEO, and as a member of the board of directors since 2020. Prior to joining Atlas Air, Dietrich worked for United Airlines for 13 years. Dietrich currently serves as chairman of the National Defense Transportation Association, a director on the board of AAR Corporation, a member of the Board of Governors of the International Air Transport Association, and a member and former Chairman of the National Air Carrier Association.