There’s a new leader in the executive suite at Hanson Logistics headquartered in Southtown St. Joseph, but he’s a decidedly familiar face whose been in the neighborhood for over a year.
The Board of Directors of Hanson Logistics has announced the promotion of Ken Whah to President and CEO, effective immediately. Whah has held the position of Chief Operating Officer since joining the company in October 2017.
Additionally, Jim Reits, who held the position of interim President and CEO for the past six months, has been elected to the Board of Directors. Reits role with the organization has also been expanded to President, CEO and CFO of the Hanson Group. Reits was previously Executive Vice President and CFO of the Hanson Group.
Bill Marohn, who serves as Chairman of the Board, says, “I want to extend our congratulations to Ken Whah on his promotion to President and CEO. His operational experience, customer-centric approach and positive leadership style exemplifies the company’s ‘Yes We Can!’ spirit.” Marohn adds, “Secondly, we’d like to thank Jim Reits for his leadership as Interim President and CEO for the past 6 months…he stepped in and we didn’t skip a beat. Congratulations to Jim with his added responsibilities in our growing organization.”
As President and CEO, Ken will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for the company to deliver shareholder value working with the board of directors and the senior leadership team. Ken will establish and deploy long-range goals, strategies, plans and policies while driving the organization to deliver on the annual budget, business commitments, and strategic initiatives.
Prior to joining Hanson Logistics, Ken was Director of North American Logistics Operations at Whirlpool, overseeing more than 1,000 logistics associates and a network of 23 factory and regional distribution centers. In his role as COO at Hanson, Ken has spearheaded a rigorous continuous improvement program across the company’s operations, including Hanson’s flagship Velocities Multi-Vendor Consolidation program. Hanson Logistics is currently the 13th largest refrigerated warehouse network in the country, with 9 facilities in Michigan and Indiana and a total capacity of 39,000,000 cu. ft. of deep frozen, refrigerated and dry warehousing space.
As the new CEO Whah says, “I am very excited and humbled to serve the Hanson family, all Hanson teammates, and the community we live in.” He adds, “I look forward to continuing to advance a culture where every teammate is appreciated and has the opportunity to add value every day.”
Ken completed his undergraduate work at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business as well as a Masters in Engineering from Purdue University.
Hanson Logistics and the Hanson Group are headquartered on South State Street in the Southtown neighborhood of St. Joseph.
