Final Mile Logistics is pleased to welcome Chris Dale as its new CEO as of September 2017.

Chris brings with him 37 years of industry experience, having worked with many of the global freight forwarding companies, such as Hellmann and UTi. He started his career in operational positions, then moved into sales.  From there, he worked his way up to management, and then to executive management. His most recent assignment was as President and CEO of Hellmann, where he was in charge of restructuring the company.

It is this big-picture, restructuring experience that led Chris to join the Final Mile team. He first came aboard Final Mile as a consultant in a three-month engagement leading up to his being offered the position of CEO. “I needed to understand what we had currently, and where we could and should go as an organization,” he said.

Chris said the idea of working within a smaller, niche segment of the freight forwarding industry really appealed to him. “In my career, I've always worked with the global companies where we've served all industries and all types of customers.  However, being a niche player, allows us to specialize, and specialization normally allows for a better return.  Further, at Final Mile we are in a very attractive niche in government and defense,” he said. 

“I think in today's competitive environment, being in a niche in the freight forwarding and global logistics industry is an advantage,” Chris said, especially, he added, when the company has started to establish itself as a reliable service and solutions provider.    

“Larger organizations are typically generalists and often have customers on board that aren’t necessarily right for them.  This is mainly driven by the need for volume to stay relevant in key trade lanes.  When you are faced with this dynamic, it creates challenges to service the customers at the cost that is needed to compete,” he said.

Some early goals he has set for the company include solidifying the primary customers, ensuring services are being performed to customer satisfaction and that the promises being made are being delivered.  In conjunction with that, Chris will be focused on formulating a growth strategy for Final Mile, “specifically, how we’ll need to grow and what resources we’ll need in the company to be able to grow the business,” he said.

“My top priority is to solidify current customer base while designing the best strategies that will allow us to grow as a company,” Chris said.

“I’ve done this most of my career.  I believe Joe [Czyzyk, Mercury Air Group CEO], Lawrence [Samuels, Mercury Air Group CFO], and the team wanted to bring in someone that could help set a strategy, and then execute that strategy to make the company profitably grow,” Chris said.

His track record in senior management speaks for itself: growing companies from grossing $400 million toward $1.2 billion (as he did with UTi), restructuring companies from loss-making to profit-making, and building strong teams with whom he can set and accomplish these strategies.  

“At Final Mile, we have a good foundation from an operational standpoint, and we have a good knowledge of the government and the defense business.  This foundation will benefit our growth requirements in the future,” he said.  

“We do need to invest in some customer facing resources, which we have done just recently and are planning to hire more where it’s prudent and where it makes the most sense from a return on investment scenario,” Chris said.  

A California native, Chris will be based out of the Atlanta area. He and his wife of 37 years, Jeri,  have three accomplished children: his oldest daughter, Chelsea, played basketball for University of Colorado and professionally.  She now is a Sales Manager at Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, his daughter MacKenzie is in graduate school at the University of Miami, and his son, Brock, a quarterback at UC Davis, will graduate this December.