Digital Freight Forwarder Forto Strengthens Its Leadership Team

Strengthening the Leadership Team at Digital Freight Forwarder Forto: Guillaume Petit-Perrin joins as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Finance and Operations, and Kamil B. Rodoper will join as Executive Vice President of Product starting June 2021. The company is expanding its leadership team with international experience, financial expertise, and product knowledge.

(Berlin) Forto, one of the leading providers of digitized freight and supply chain solutions, is strengthening its leadership team and preparing the company for the next phase of growth. Guillaume Petit-Perrin will take on the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Kamil B. Rodoper will join Forto as Executive Vice President of Product in June 2021.

Guillaume Petit-Perrin, who comes from J.P. Morgan, brings over 18 years of experience in corporate finance in international markets such as London, New York, and Paris to Forto. Most recently, Petit-Perrin served as Managing Director in the TMT Investment Banking Group at J.P. Morgan. Over the years, Petit-Perrin has advised clients on M&A transactions worth over $100 billion and led several equity and debt issuances. With an extensive track record across sectors, regions, and products, Petit-Perrin brings valuable knowledge in implementing organic and inorganic growth strategies to support the next phases of Forto’s growth. “Coming from a different industry allows me to view Forto with a fresh perspective and apply the right tools in the right places. Forto is on an impressive growth path, and I look forward to the many years of success ahead of us,” says Petit-Perrin.

Supplementing the Existing Leadership Team

Kamil B. Rodoper has been appointed Executive Vice President of Product at Forto and will significantly share responsibility for the strategic direction of Forto’s product starting in June. Rodoper comes to Forto from Lyft, a competitor of Uber, where he most recently served as VP of Product and General Manager of Express Drive and previously as Head of Product at Fleet Technologies. Accordingly, Rodoper already brings experience in developing highly scalable platforms that are characterized by demanding supply and demand fluctuations. These play an important role in further expanding Forto’s market-leading supply chain offering. Previously, he also served as Senior Director of Product Management at Glassdoor and as Group Product Manager at Microsoft.

The new competencies perfectly complement Forto’s leadership team, which is currently led by Michael Wax (CEO), Erik Muttersbach (Co-founder and CTO), and Dr. Michael Ardelt (COO). In the second half of 2020, Forto had already strengthened its leadership ranks by expanding from the technology sector with significant experience in hyperscaling companies. Recent hires include Kenneth de Spiegeleire (Dropbox, Cisco, and Vodafone) as CRO, Barzel Segal (Workday, Mindjet) as SVP of Engineering, and Christopher North (Amazon, Shutterfly) as Strategic Advisor and Board Observer.

Massive Potential for Digitization in Logistics

“The logistics and transportation industry is still in the early stages of digitization,” explains Forto CEO Michael Wax. “There is massive potential for automation that can deliver more reliable and transparent customer experiences. Our strategy continues to focus on integrating our operational excellence in freight forwarding with our investments in the SaaS platform. Our expanded leadership team combines business, industry, and technical expertise that will support us in realizing our vision.”

Current market turbulence has revealed weaknesses in the supply chains of most companies. About 73 percent have issues with their supplier base, and a staggering 85 percent struggle with inefficient digital technologies. This shows how challenging innovation can be in a volatile market. That is why Forto has invested heavily in developing its digital service offerings and its expansion into Asia to support over 2,500 customers with their global transports and their readiness to benefit from future growth – despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the volatility of the sea freight market or the recent blockage of the Suez Canal.

Photo: © Forto / Image Caption: Guillaume Petit-Perrin (left) and Kamil B. Rodoper strengthen the leadership team at Forto