Washington: ExIndian American corporate veteran Raj Subramaniam is set to replace Frederick W Smith as the new Chief Executive Officer of the delivery giant FedEx, as per an official release from the company.
Fifty years after he founded FedEx, Smith announced on Monday that he would be stepping down as the company’s chief executive in June. “As we look toward what’s next, I have a great sense of satisfaction that a leader of the calibre of Raj Subramaniam will take FedEx into a very successful future,” he said in a statement.
Subramaniam, 54, joined FedEx in 1991 and was elected to the FedEx Board of Directors in 2020. He will maintain his seat on the Board, according to the company.
Subramaniam served FedEx Corp as its President and Chief Operating Officer before being named as the CEO-elect this month. He has held various other leadership roles in the company such as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.
Apart from this, he has also served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Express, which is the world’s largest express transportation company.
Since he joined FedEx, Subramaniam has been in several management and marketing roles throughout Asia and the US, in addition to serving as the President of FedEx Express in Canada.
Originally from Chathapuram in Palakkad, he grew up in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, where his father C Subramaniam was the Director-General of Police. His mother Kamalambal was an additional director in the state health services. His wife Uma had also served in FedEx. He has two children, Arjun and Ananya.
He went to IIT Bombay in 1987 to study chemical engineering and later earned a master’s degree in the same field from Syracuse University in 1989.
He also holds an MBA degree in Marketing and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
As President and CEO-elect of FedEx Corporation, Subramaniam is responsible for providing strategic direction for all FedEx operating companies, including FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, FedEx Office, FedEx Logistics, and FedEx Dataworks, according to the company website.
The website mentions that Subramaniam has more than 30 years of industry experience at FedEx. “His international leadership experience, keen business insights, and focus on globalization have contributed to the success of FedEx and provide a blueprint as the company revolutionizes the transportation and logistics industry,” it says.
Subramaniam serves on the board of directors of FedEx Corporation, First Horizon Corporation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s China Center Advisory Board, FIRST, U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, and the U.S.-China Business Council. He is also a member of the International Trade Administration’s Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC).