Industry Moves – New USPS and Australia Post chairmen, plus other appointments

Rounding up some of the latest senior and executive appointments in the mail and express industry, including new chairmen at Australia Post and USPS.

Mickey D Barnett to chair USPS board of governors

The US Postal Service board of governors has elected attorney and former New Mexico state senator Mickey D Barnett as its new chairman.

Barnett, who has been a USPS governor since being appointed by President George W Bush in 2006, was elected at last week’s board meeting to succeed current chairman Thurgood Marshall Jr, whose year as chair ends next month. James H Bilbray, a former Congressman for Nevada, has been elected vice chairman.

The next USPS board of governors chairman is currently a litigation attorney based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a 30-year public service record that includes serving in the New Mexico State Senate from 1980 to 1984. Bilbray is currently an attorney base in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was a Congressman for his state from 1987 to 1995.

Australia Post names John Stanhope as new chairman

Ministers have appointed former Telstra chief financial officer John Stanhope as Australia Post’s new chairman.

Stanhope, who is currently a director of AGL Energy Limited, began his career at the Postmaster General’s Department in 1967. He takes over from acting chairman Mark Darras, the interim following David Mortimer’s resignation in August.

Ahmed Fahour, the Australia Post chief executive, said Stanhope had a “broad range of leadership skills and industry experience”. He said of the new chairman: “His vast expertise in the rapidly changing communications industry will equip him to guide Australia Post’s strategy and continue the transformation path set by our former Chairman David Mortimer.”

Nina Fitisova appointed Russian Post deputy head

Russian Post has promoted one of its key regional directors to oversee development of its entire postal network, as acting deputy director-general.

Nina Fitisova has been working in the postal sector for more than 30 years, including five years as deputy director for the North Ossetia-Alania area until 2009, when she became director of the Samara region.

Russian Post said Fitisova led her branch back into profitability in her first year in charge, and has remained profitable, while the branch has also achieved major improvements in service quality. “Now Nina Fitzsova will share this unique expertise with the entire postal network,” said Russian Post.

Geoff Partridge promoted to Toll South Africa MD

Australian express and logistics firm Toll Global Forwarding has appointed Geoff Partridge as its new managing director for South Africa.

Partridge was previously operations director for the South African division, and replaces Vincent Magnus as MD, with whom he founded the business in 1989 when it was Clover Cargo, a company Toll ultimately acquired in 2010-11. Magnus is retiring at the end of this year after 23 years in the business.

The next TGF South Africa MD said he was taking over at an “exciting time”. “South Africa is well-positioned as a base for opening in other key African countries such as Kenya and Ghana, that can then feed our global network,” he said.

Zumbox appoints Chuck Teller SVP of market development

US digital postal mail company Zumbox has appointed formed Catalog Choice and Trusted ID executive Chuck Teller as its new senior vice president of market development and strategy.

The California-based company said Teller will work to identify new industries that can be served by digital postal mail, as well as developing new relationships with strategic partners in the mailing ecosystem. Teller was previously chief strategy officer at privacy and identity management firm TrustedID, which acquired Catalog Choice in May 2012.

“Consumers struggle with organizing the various bills and statements they receive daily, and need a secure, private document storage system to solve their problems,” said Teller. “Digital Postal Mail is that system, as it’s automatically fed by the mail. We do all the heavy lifting, directing and organizing, simply notifying households when documents are available. I’m looking forward to leveraging my relationships to bring Digital Postal Mail to the masses.”