ULD management company, ACL Airshop, has named James W. Harris as its new Chief Executive Officer. He takes over from Bernhard Kindelbacher, who steps down after two years as CEO, during which he expanded ACL Airshop’s international reach, broadened its end-to-end ULD management offering, secured major contracts in multiple regions, and pushed digital tools such as the Localization+ program. Kindelbacher will remain with the business as Senior Advisor during the handover.
Harris joined ACL Airshop in NOV21 as Chief Financial Officer and has since overhauled its finance function while gaining broad insight into operations, business development, and strategy. A former PwC Certified Public Accountant, Harris previously served as CFO at Forum Energy Technologies, where revenue grew from 25 million to 1.7 billion dollars through organic expansion and more than 20 acquisitions, and he also helped steer its NYSE listing. Harris later led a capital restructuring and merger with Noble Drilling as CFO of Pacific Drilling S.A. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and taxation from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Rice University.
Jim Metcalfe, ACL Airshop board member and CEO of Astatine [Astatine Investment Partners manages ACL Airshop’s fundings], said: “We are excited to partner with Jim Harris on this important chapter of ACL Airshop’s growth story. In addition to his finance, capital markets and strategic planning capabilities, Jim brings a strong business development and operations focused mindset, which he has honed through his tenure at ACL Airshop and prior experience with sponsor backed businesses. We congratulate him on this promotion, and we look forward to collaborating closely with him to grow and enhance the business.”
James Harris stated: “I have greatly enjoyed my time at ACL Airshop, working in an important part of the air cargo industry supplying critical equipment for freight transport. I am proud of our strong, global team dedicated to providing the most technologically advanced products and services for our customers. I am especially excited to continue partnering with Astatine in this new role as they have consistently proven to be supportive strategic partners during their stewardship.”
