TNT appoints Marianne Culver to lead UK domestic business

Express carrier TNT has appointed Marianne Culver as its new managing director in the UK with immediate effect. Culver was previously the chief of global supply chain at electronics distributor Premier Farnell. She succeeds Alistair Cochrane, who stepped down in November.

TNT said she was a senior international executive with 25 years of experience driving profitable growth and business transformation within the global distribution sector.

The company said Culver is known for her leadership skills and for driving customer service standards.

Her appointment comes as TNT continues its transformation in the wake of 2013’s failed acquisition by UPS, under the current “Outlook” strategy.

Commenting on her appointment, Culver stressed a business-to-business focus for her company going forward.

She said: “I’m delighted to be joining TNT at such a pivotal time. I’m looking forward to taking a service-led approach to driving profitable growth, as we firmly re-establish TNT as the unbeatable B2B express service in the UK.”

Culver is a Harvard Business School graduate who started her career with electronics distributor SEI Macro Group and rose to become Group Managing Director and later Senior Vice President of Marketing, EMEA. She moved on to become Corporate Vice President of Avnet Inc, which acquired SEI Macro in 1999, and in 2001 was appointed President of Avnet’s subsidiary, Silica EMEA.

Transformation

TNT states that it is the number two operator in the EUR 2bn UK business-to-business express market, behind Royal Mail.

The company’s transformation efforts are seeing a push to attract more SME customers and take market share in key industry sectors, rather than sticking to large customers and hoping they will grow volumes.

TNT is also looking to cut out unprofitable contracts while modernising infrastructure with the investment in two new hubs in the UK this year.