Convoy taps Mark Okerstrom as president and COO

Seattle-based digital freight networkConvoyannounced today that it has appointed Mark Okerstrom as president and chief operating officer, effective August 31.

Okerstrom will be joining Convoy fromExpedia Group Inc., where he served as president and CEO. Prior to that, he was Expedia Group’s CFO and EVP of Operations. Other roles he has served include positions with global consultancy Bain & Company in Boston and San Francisco, UBS Investment Bank, and the global law firm Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer in London. Okerstrom holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of British Columbia.

Convoy officials said that in his newly created role as president and COO, Okerstrom will work closely with Co-Founder and CEO, Dan Lewis, and bring his expertise in scaling large digital marketplaces to Convoy’s leadership team while directly overseeing Convoy’s finance, operations, sales, marketing, supply, and marketplace growth teams.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mark to the Convoy team,” saidDan Lewis, CEO of Convoy, in a statement. “The trucking industry forms the backbone of the US economy, and Mark’s arrival comes at a critical time as Convoy’s growth continues to support thousands of businesses and small trucking companies nationwide, delivering essential goods and tackling problems of waste and inefficiency. Mark’s experience building industry transforming businesses will help Convoy deliver the transportation network of the future and achieve our mission of endless capacity and zero waste. I look forward to partnering with Mark as we continue to rapidly expand our digital freight network in innovative new ways. I have the utmost confidence that his wealth of knowledge and trusted leadership will be instrumental to our long-term growth.”

And Okerstrom added in the same statement that he is excited to be joining Convoy at what he called an important stage in the company’s growth.

“I’ve been watching Convoy from its early beginnings, and it’s been truly remarkable to witness what it has accomplished in just 5 short years since its inception,” he said. “Dan and team have led Convoy on an impressive journey from small, disruptive new entrant in the massive $800bn US trucking market to what it has become today - a category-defining, leading digital freight network that is bringing the power of technology and a commitment to sustainability to a fragmented and inefficient industry. I can’t wait to start working alongside Dan and the talented Convoy team to help take the company to the next level and beyond.”

Convoy recently announced that it hasestablished new partnerships with various transportation management system (TMS) service providers.

The TMS partners include: Blue Yonder (previously JDA), FreightPOP, Recon Logistics, Shipwell, and SwanLeap.

Convoy officials said that this announcement now brings its total TMS integrations to 12, which, it added, makes the Convoy digital freight network (DFN) pricing capability the most widely available in the industry,” adding that through the integrations, transportation teams can instantly book backup and spot freight with Convoy’s real-time rates and 100% coverage guarantee, saving thousands of hours annually and up to 21% compared to spot rates.