Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Role Summary

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) leads overall company strategy, culture, and growth, making their role critical to the long-term success of an organization. He or she sets the vision, aligns stakeholders, and steers operations, client relationships, and capital strategy. The CEO interfaces with investors, board, and senior leadership to drive long-term value creation, market expansion, and innovation in logistics capabilities.

Required Education, Certifications, and Experience

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Engineering, or related field (required)

Master’s Degree or MBA Preferred

Certifications:

  • Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) – APICS
  • Six Sigma Certification (Green or Black Belt)
  • Project Management Professional (PMP)
  • Certified Logistics Professional (CLP)

Experience:

10–20 years in logistics, warehousing, supply chain, or transportation roles; at least 5 years in senior leadership (VP or above).

Experience scaling operations, launching new services, or leading acquisitions is highly valued.

Core Skills

  • Strategic planning and execution
  • Supply chain optimization
  • Financial acumen (P&L management, forecasting)
  • Contract negotiation and B2B relationship management
  • Operational excellence (Lean, Six Sigma)
  • Crisis management and risk mitigation
  • Team building, leadership development
  • Familiarity with WMS, TMS, ERP systems
  • Understanding of last-mile delivery, fulfillment, freight, and 3PL/4PL

A Hypothetical Day in the Life of a Chief Executive Officer

5am- Wakeup and Preparation: You wake up at 5am to get a head start on the day. You read a daily briefing email prepared by an executive assistant noting updated KPIs, warehouse performance summaries, and a quick digest of industry news while you eat your breakfast. The email notes that there is an inventory discrepancy at a warehouse in Kansas City, a dispute with a freight partner, and a new client onboarding today.

7am- You begin your commute to the HQ and warehouse. While driving you get on the phone with the Director of Carrier Relations to discuss an issue. A freight partner missed a regional pickup last night causing a cascade of delays for a key client’s flash sale orders. You ask them to explain a plan to contain this problem prior to the 8AM ops call and they brief you that they are using a backup carrier and reaching out to the affected client to make amends. 

8am- You enter the company HQ and start the day with an OPS sync. Warehouse managers from 5 cities call in to give updates and you discuss dashboards showing order throughput, fulfillment SLAs, and fleet GPS locations. You bring up the inventory discrepancy with the Kansas City warehouse manager and she lets you know that it was an error with data entry and that they are refreshing review protocols among middle managers.

9am- You walk the floor of the HQ warehouse to get a feel for on-ground truth. Noticing a new temp worker being coached by a supervisor, you make a note to look at increasing supervisory training budgets for the following quarters. 

10am- Client Strategy Review. You meet with the Client Success Director to review a quarterly report for a large DTC apparel brand. Your Client Success Director advises that this company’s executives are focused on transparency and speed, so you propose dedicated account-level dashboards and scheduling additional check ins at lower levels.

11am- Board Prep and Emails: You parse through your emails to respond to investor check-ins, gather revised vendor quotes, and follow up on a maintenance issue at your Atlanta warehouse. You take time to review a slide deck for the upcoming board meeting where you strategize the framing of recent rising costs as a manageable issue.

12pm- Lunch with your CFO: You meet at a nearby cafe with your CFO where you discuss how to finance the expansion to a third-party cold storage partner without triggering a board veto. The CFO alerts you that you may experience a cash-flow dip if a major client delays payments again, so you prep a contingency to rework your financing model to account for a 60-day lag scenario.

1pm- Investor Call: You take a zoom call with a VC partner from a logistics-focused fund that is looking at Series C possibilities. 

2pm- Focused work: You close your door and dive into proposals for warehouse automation, edit internal memos focused on org changes, and sketch a possible acquisition strategy for a regional carrier firm based in Oklahoma.

3pm- Client Onboarding Kickoff: You meet with five stakeholders from a new client where you answer questions on SKU onboarding timelines, inventory minimums, packaging, and reporting options. 

4pm- Talent Development Check-In: You have a one on one with the Director of HR/People OPS. You review attrition data and results from a recent warehouse employee engagement survey. One of the facilities is trending towards high employee burnout. You direct the DHR to give you three ideas for meaningful improvement by the end of the week focusing on retention bonuses, flexible scheduling, and potential career track improvements.

5pm- End of day walkthrough of the facility. You note that your warehouse team is crushing it and you tell your assistant to buy the team lunch tomorrow from a local pizza restaurant.

6pm- You meet at a steakhouse for an industry dinner with 11 other executives for a logistics CEO roundtable where you discuss topics ranging from rail disruptions to AI. You make three new contacts and a warm M&A lead. 

8pm- Back from the dinner, you send a quick slack message to HR about a floor worker who you felt deserved recognition and review your calendar for the next day before bed.