Three business leaders have exited Seattle-based Convoy in recent weeks even as the heavily funded on-demand trucking startup has added new executives to position itself for further growth.
The departed leaders include Chief Business Officer Grant Ries, who left the company in September, as well as VP of Business Operations Fahad Hassan and Head of Sales Michael Hopkins, both of whom parted ways with the company in mid-October, GeekWire has learned.
Hassan responded to GeekWire’s inquiry with this emailed statement: “I’ve recently parted ways with Convoy. I’ve had a great experience the last several years and feel fortunate that I have had the opportunity to work with such a talented, diverse, and world class team. I will miss my colleagues and I know Convoy will have nothing but success going forward.”
Convoy declined to comment on the departures. Reached by phone, Hopkins and Ries confirmed that they were no longer with Convoy, but they declined to comment further.
Ries is a veteran entrepreneur and executive who invested in Convoy before he took an executive role at the company. He previously co-founded cloud technology startup BlueKai and served as that company’s CTO until it was acquired by Oracle in 2014. He then served as the VP of Oracle Data Cloud. He served as Convoy’s Chief Business Officer for just over a year.
Hassan had been with Convoy for more than two years and was previously an entrepreneur in the education technology space, founding two startups that were acquired.
Hopkins had been with the company the shortest amount of time, just under a year. Before joining Convoy, he worked in sales leadership at senior living information service A Place For Mom.
Recent executive additions at Convoy include the company’s new general counsel, Diankha Linear, and the promotion of two existing leaders, Brooks McMahon and Adarsh Nair, to new executive roles. The company says it will be announcing other senior-level executive additions soon.
Linear joins Convoy from Nordstrom, where she served as the senior director of the retailer’s legal department for more than four years. Her prior work includes roles with Perkins Coie, the U.S. Army Reserve and the U.S. Department of Education.
“I was attracted by Convoy’s mission to transport the world with endless capacity and zero waste,” Linear said in a statement. “Convoy is a great example of a company harnessing technology to move a massive industry forward and I look forward to joining such a strong, dedicated and accomplished team.”
Convoy is also promoting two existing leaders to new executive roles. A former Microsoft and Marchex leader, Nair is now serving as VP of growth. Former Marchex and TINYPulse executive McMahon is now Convoy’s VP of business development and partnerships.
Convoy has rocketed to prominence since it was founded in 2015. It has raised a total of $80 million from the likes of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Code.org founders Hadi and Ali Partovi, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and many more. It was also voted Startup of the Year by GeekWire readers in the 2017 GeekWire Awards. The company has been described as the “Uber for trucking,” using technology to connect truckers with assignments, traditionally a slow and time-intensive process.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time to be at Convoy. In the past six months we’ve grown to over 160 employees and we’ve expanded our services into the Midwest and Northeast,” said Convoy co-founder and CEO Dan Lewis in a statement. “Our company is built on strong values that reflect our culture, and we always strive to make decisions that uphold and promote them. As we grow and scale, we are excited about the future and very confident in our team and the new leadership coming on board to help us grow and expand in 2018 and beyond.”
