Monika Ribar, CEO of Panalpina, has announced she will step down from her role at the end of May 2013. Panalpina announced that her successor is the freight forwarding expert and former Kuehne + Nagel management board member Peter Ulber. Ribar will hand over her responsibilities to Peter Ulber on June 1, 2013.
A company statement said: “This change in CEO has been planned and prepared by the Board of Directors of Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd and Monika Ribar as part of the company’s on-going succession process. Monika Ribar, who in addition to her role as CEO of Panalpina already serves on other companies’ boards of directors, plans now to turn her focus more on these non-executive managerial roles for the foreseeable future.”
Monika Ribar has been a member of Panalpina’s management for almost 23 years and she has led the company as CEO for the past seven years.
“Monika Ribar deserves high praise for the secure legacy she will leave at Panalpina. The Board of Directors expresses its sincere gratitude and appreciation to her,” commented Rudolf W. Hug, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “She has guided the enterprise through one of the most difficult phases of its recent history and successfully geared it towards the new challenges.”
Ulber has had a long career in the global freight forwarding and logistics business. Following his studies at the International School of Logistics in Hamburg, he held various management positions from 1985 to 2011 at Kuehne + Nagel in Europe as well as North and South America. As a member of the management board from 2008 onwards, he was responsible for both sea freight and airfreight at Kuehne + Nagel as well as having had overall responsibility for the global sales organisation. As a result of a series of strategic acquisitions by Kuehne + Nagel, he was also strongly involved in the company’s expansion in Europe, Asia and America. At the end of 2011, he went into business himself as co-founder and partner of the Charleston Enterprise Group LLC.
“We feel fortunate that we could attract one of the globally most respected freight forwarding experts and entrepreneurs and secure his services as CEO of Panalpina,” said Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hug. “His entrepreneurial track record is impressive and we are convinced that he will succeed in further expanding Panalpina’s position in the world markets.”