FedEx . named Dave Bronczek to the newly created post of chief operating officer and shifted the president’s title to him from company founder Fred Smith.
Bronczek, 62, will assume his new roles in 2018, the shipping company said in a statement Monday. The heads of FedEx’s operating units will report to Bronczek, who has served as chief of the company’s air cargo business since 2000.
The subject of a successor for 72-year-old Smith, who founded Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx in 1971 and also serves as chairman, has been the focus of speculation for years. In 2015, FedEx’s board raised the mandatory retirement age for company directors to 75 from 72, a step that allowed Smith to stay on longer.
Mike Glenn, an executive vice president and leader of the marketing and sales group at FedEx, will retire at the end of this year, the company said. His departure to focus on raising a daughter who has special needs “is a tremendous loss for FedEx,” Smith said. Bronczek will replace Glenn as chairman of the company’s revenue management committee starting next year.