uShip announced two key C-level promotions today.
Kris Lamb, the company’s chief technology officer since late 2017, has been named CEO, replacing chief executive Mike Williams, who held the position since early 2017 and is leaving the company to pursue another leadership opportunity.
Heather Hoover-Salomon, uShip’s longest-tenured employee, also advanced from executive vice president of operations to chief operating officer. In 2005, she joined the then-two-year-old uShip as a PR and customer service intern; today, she oversees human resources, recruiting, facilities, customer operations, member support, legal, trust and safety, and uShip’s on-site kitchen operation. Heather is also a two-time Austin Business Journal Profiles in Power finalist.
“When you look at Kris’s 20-year technology experience, it’s clear he’s uniquely qualified to lead uShip forward,” said Jim Martell, executive chairman of uShip’s board of directors. “He’s held key leadership roles at both public and private companies, and over the last year and a half as uShip’s CTO, he’s continued to prove his leadership within the executive leadership team.
“There’s perhaps no one more suited and deserving of uShip’s COO role than Heather Hoover-Salomon,” said Martell. “Her intern-to-COO journey is a testament to her energy, leadership, and knowledge across virtually every facet of this company.
Since joining uShip in 2017 as CTO, Lamb has quickly organized uShip’s engineering, product, and development teams into a high-performing organization today. He’s led the company’s migration to the cloud, which is helping make products and services available to shippers and carriers more quickly and at better quality.
Before uShip, Lamb was vice president and general manager of cloud security at Austin-based Forcepoint, and has held leadership roles in engineering, product management, enterprise software, security, cloud/hosting, SMB, and mobility at both public and private companies.
“This is really a dream come true for me when you consider how technology is transforming logistics today,” said Lamb. “So it’s truly exciting to lead a 15-year-old technology platform that’s innovating and digitizing how oversized items get shipped.
Since 2004, uShip has accumulated over 6.1 million consumer and business shippers who have listed 9.1 million large and bulky shipments for transport. Each month the company digitally obtains over 2,000 companies who use the marketplace to move their business freight.
uShip currently has more than 41,000 active service providers in its network. Recent surveys by uShip show that of those in its carrier network:
- 96% operate less than 5 trucks and 46 percent operate one vehicle.
- 95% have a box truck, enclosed trailer or transit/sprinter van
- 66% are In-Home Delivery carriers. These drivers typically work in a regional area.
- 37% of In-Home Delivery carriers have been driving for 15 or more years
