Good morning. Ryder System, Inc.’s talent development includes preparing its longtime executives for different C-suite roles. That includes Cristina Gallo-Aquino, SVP, controller, and principal accounting officer at the transportation and logistics company who is taking on the role of EVP and CFO. She will succeed John J. Diez, who was promoted to president and chief operating officer (COO).
The Fortune 500 company headquartered in Miami announced on Monday that Gallo-Aquino and Diez will begin their new roles on Jan. 1. Both executives have worked at Ryder for more than 20 years. Diez joined the company in 2002 and has held various senior leadership operating and finance roles becoming CFO in 2021. Gallo-Aquino joined Ryder in 2004. Before her current role, she was the VP and CFO for the company’s fleet management solutions business unit and VP and corporate controller.
Gallo-Aquino is the second woman to become CFO at Ryder, according to a company representative. She follows in the footsteps of Tracy A. Leinbach, who worked with former CEO Gregory T. Swienton. Leinbach was promoted to CFO in 2003 and retired from Ryder in 2006, after a more than 20-year career.
The company is committed to talent development at all levels, Ryder chair and CEO Robert E. Sanchez said in Monday’s announcement. “This includes providing leadership opportunities in positions that broaden our team’s capabilities through rotational assignments, as well as providing roles of increasing responsibility that contribute to the long-term progress and stability of our company,” Sanchez said.
Ryder has been in business for over 90 years. In 2019, the company began a transformation plan that focuses on accelerating the growth of its more asset-light lines of business such as supply-chain and logistics consulting, Sanchez said during the Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials Conference on Dec. 4.
Prior to the transformation plan, those businesses represented 40% of revenues, while the asset-intensive trucking business was 60%, Sanchez explained. Now, those numbers are reversed.
Ryder’s strategy of providing rotational assignments for its executives is a best practice, Scott W. Simmons co-managing partner of the executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates, told me.
“Some of the very best CFO training grounds, such as Honeywell and GE, have the rotational philosophy ingrained in their culture,” Simmons said.
There is some risk involved when you rotate a professional outside of their functional expertise, he explained. But at the same time, this strategy provides the best opportunity to promote from within when succession needs arise, he said. “In the case of Ryder, Diez has already served in key general management positions, so the risk of moving him over all lines of business is mitigated,” Simmons said.
Ryder is most likely positioning Diez as a CEO succession candidate, he said. Just prior to being named CEO in 2013, Sanchez spent a year as COO, Simmons said. Also, Sanchez’s predecessor as CEO, Gregory T. Swienton, served as COO before being promoted to the top chair. “This is Ryder’s playbook,” he said.
It will be interesting to see where Diez and Gallo-Aquino’s career paths at the company will go.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
The following sections of CFO Daily were curated by Greg McKenna.
