DHL has announced that Mike Parra will succeed Stephen Fenwick as CEO for DHL Express Americas and Greg Hewitt will move into the position of CEO for Express US operations as of January 2016.
Fenwick is retiring at the end of December after a successful career that has spanned three decades at DHL.
“The new appointments recognize the strong leadership and commitment to service excellence of both Mike Parra and Greg Hewitt,” said Fenwick. “I couldn’t be happier to have both Mike and Greg lead the U.S. and the Americas region with their vision for strong business growth as we continue to expand our network and reinforce our status as certified international specialists.”
During the five years that Fenwick led the Americas region, DHL has grown revenue, expanded market share and improved its network, adding routes and planes as well as expanding critical gateways and hubs in Cincinnati, Miami, Panama City, Bogota and Mexico City. The expansion has been needed to meet the demands of increased global trade and customers’ growth.
Parra started his career with DHL Express in 1997 as service center manager in South Florida and quickly progressed through various senior management roles, including his appointment in 2009 as General Manager and Senior Vice President responsible for all operations and sales activities in the Western United States and Guam. In 2011, he became responsible for the Americas region network operations. In his new appointment as regional CEO, Parra will be responsible for the management of DHL Express business activities in 50 countries and territories across the Americas, which includes the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Parra grew up in Miami. Prior to DHL, he worked for 10 years with TNT Express Worldwide, holding positions as regional operations manager, gateway manager and general manager of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In his new role as Express U.S. CEO, Hewitt will lead the Express U.S. Management Board and will join the Express Americas Management Board. Prior to joining DHL Express U.S. as Area General Manager for the Northeast U.S. region last November, he served as President of DHL Express Canada from 2011 to 2014.
Hewitt, who started his career with DHL in 2003 in Canada, has held several vice president management positions in commercial sales, including international assignments in Europe and the U.S. He led the team that negotiated the sale of the DHL Express domestic business in Canada to TransForce in 2011.
