Mark White Email & Phone Number

Board Advisory - Software & Technology, Shipping, Logistics, International Customs Indirect Tax, Transportation, Cross-Border eCommerce

In 2002, I was engaged by USFreightways (NASDAQ) to help orchestrate the management buy-out of USF Worldwide. We executed 2 MBO's which resulted in USF Worldwide's global business being split between several former "SEKO" US senior executives (the US business) and the international side of the business falling under the control of former GPS Asia executives. The original SEKO business (founded in 1976) had retracted under US Freightways ownership and all that remained in 2002 was a small network of independently owned companies (in the US) with combined annual revenues of between US$90m and US$100m per annum. At the time of the 2002 MBO, the company was making a loss of US$3m per MONTH!.Bill Wascher, Steve Goldberg and Tom Cagney quickly turned the US loss-making business into a profitable entity by the end of 2003 which was most impressive. At this point, SEKO US was 90 % focused on transportation within their home market. Recognising the growth potential internationally, SEKO approached me to partner with them to build an international network of SEKO companies outside of the US and develop international services. Whilst I had not planned to stay in the industry after selling Ultimex, after a few too many glasses of something or other we agreed to start a new global company (today's Topco), investing equally in SEKO 2.0.I was predominantly responsible for establishing SEKO in countries outside of the US and engineering the business model, foundations and profitability of SEKO 2.0 globally. We developed a unique business model that embraced both local and global ownership. The international arm was powered by systems developed in the UK including supply chain management, PO management., Customs warehouse management., duty calculators, a global WMS, TMS, business intelligence and machine learning (and now robotics!).Today (2022), SEKO is a US$3Bn revenue company with over 4000 employees.

In 2010 I accepted the position of COO for SEKO Global Logistics LLC. In this role, I was predominantly focused on increasing the Company's market share in EMEA and developing a new growth strategy for Asia Pacific. I planned and executed the establishment of SEKO entities in Hong Kong and China which both delivered profits in their first years of trading. SEKO's Asia operations now provide a solid foundation to drive growth across the whole region for many years to come.In addition, I spear-headed a global marketing initiative in SEKO including the development of a new website and media centre. I was also responsible for brand messaging and the global customer acquisition strategy. I was instrumental in positioning SEKO at the forefront of Global eCommerce solutions by developing worldwide logistics and fulfilment locations as micro inventory hubs in geographically strategic locations for our customers so they can leverage the benefits of holding inventory closer to the consumer in foreign markets. I was also responsible for establishing SEKO's cross-border Omni-Channel vertical and acquiring an early international eCommerce cross-border parcel company and their outstanding technology platform and kick-ass team in 2018.

Digital Design, eCommerce websites, Business Software Applications, Search engine optimisation.

ETLogic is a software company providing electronic negotiation, quote streaming and advanced component systems to the market-making Investment Banking sector, in the government bond, interest-rate swap and credit bond e-trading space.Based on extensive experience within the industry, working with traders, support departments, trading desk heads and other business users, ETLogic's goal is to provide the Investment Banking Sector's trading desks with systems that are understandable and dynamically configurable by traders and desk heads, rather than being purely technology focused. We also strive to fit our systems into existing Investment Bank technology landscapes with the minimum of upheaval providing quick wins in the specific areas where you need it.OUR PRODUCT - DUET DUET stands for 'Data Unified Electronic Trading'. DUET covers automated pre-trade negotiations and streamed quote contributions with buy-side customer institutions via the established D2C electronic market venues as well as providing streamed quote orders to the D2D venues. The financial products currently covered are Government bonds, Interest Rate Swaps and Credit bonds.DUET aims to be:> understandable to traders and business users> a 'one-stop shop' for all your electronic trading data maintenance> a single source of electronic activity data> a cross trading desk, global view of electronic trading activity a foundation for your further enhancements and innovation> easily integrated into your existing IT landscape

Indigina provides a state of the art core ERP system known as SupplyStream to importers, distributors and retailers. This versatile software platform is a "grape-to-glass" solution from range planning, global sourcing, manufacture and shipping, through to inventory fulfilment and returns management. The platform harnesses cloud technology and enables all parties in the supply chain to work collaboratively on the same set of data through secure role based user interfaces and includes modules such as Production, Critical path, Supply Chain, QA, QC, Compliance, WMS, IMS, TMS, SCM as well as the usual CRM, Finance, Merchandising, Demand Planning, Point of Sale, Business intelligence (Big Data, predictive analytics, AI) and other operational software disciplines necessary to run a successful retail business. All on ONE platform and ONE database. A sophisticated business process workflow engine may be uniquely tailored through a complex set of rules to drive work flow from the design and prototyping stage through to development, sourcing and shipping of products, monitoring "moving inventory" and managing multi site receipted inventory along with fulfilment through to the final customer or if own retail outlet, to shelf availability, consumption and returns management and forecasting. Being an end-to-end technology solution (minus the sticky tape), the software readily lends itself to dynamic demand planning, data cube forecasting, global inventory management and shipping control at line item level for all types of companies involved in manufacturing, distribution, retailing and e-tailing. Offices in USA, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Indirect Tax Consultancy providing expert advice regarding Customs Import Duty Rates and legislation, Import VAT, GST, excise duties, anti-dumping rules, sourcing, Customs bonded warehousing and preferential duty advice and compliance to many of the world's most famous brands. For more information check out www.hexcl.co.uk

Bundletech was previously known as Personal Shipper which was the brainchild of Marc Gross, an employee that worked for me and had a "bright idea" one day. Bundletech had two distinct business operations, one known as bundlebox.com and the other as dutycalculator.com. Investment was initially sourced by Marc from ACME Capital and a small number of Business Angels. In 2010, we received Private Equity Investment from Piton Capital at which point Marc recruited a gentleman named Andre Schmidt (ex eBay and Google) to take the business forward whilst Marc pursued another new opportunity (still as a shareholder).BUNDLEBOX: A safe, secure and unique online shipping solution for personal importers that need to arrange the purchase and pick up of products from overseas stores and vendors and delivery to their door by credit card at the click of a button. Among other things, BundleTech provides each of its online customers with a dedicated "suite" number in the country of export where the products you purchase may be consolidated together and shipped out as one consignment. The goods are fully insured whilst in our care and the site provides a detailed overview of not just the costs of shipping but the blind spot cost of import duty and VAT which is often overlooked and/or misunderstood by inexperienced importers. Exited to SEKO in 2014.DUTYCALCULATOR.COM provides a keyword look-up (as opposed to HS code) of import duty and tax costs across the world and calculates the final landed price for delivering cross-border purchases to consumers.In February 2015, BorderFree and Pitney Bowes started a bidding war to acquire DutyCalculator.com. We eventually sold to Border Free. Border Free was swiftly acquired by Pitney Bowes following the transaction (within weeks).

ACME Capital is an investment vehicle that invests primarily in technology companies but also a diverse range of other businesses including Trad Retail, eCommerce, Logistics, Shipping, , Customs, International Tax and Compliance, Bonded Duty Management, Supply Chain systems, Professional Services, Recruitment and African Hair Pieces (I kid you not!). ACME has a "Labs" arm that is largely focused on backing Generation Z candidates with either their own ideas to start a business or to lead a concept already developed by ACME. ACME fully embraces all types of diversity including but not limited to culture, race, age, sex, religion, disability.

In 2003, Bill Wascher, Steve Goldberg and Tom Cagney approached me to partner with them and lead SEKO's expansion into international shipping and logistics. Prior to 2003, SEKO was 100 % US based and focused on their home market.The company had been re-acquired from USF Worldwide (the same company I sold Ultimex to) following US Freightways divestiture (referenced earlier) in 2002. At the time, SEKO was a much smaller network of offices in the United States than it is today with revenues of approximately US$80-$100m, mostly generated from US domestic transportation and logistics as opposed to international. We subsequently developed a viable and sustainable international revenue sharing and equity model that fuelled SEKO's expansion outside of the US without any external investment being required. Each of us invested equally in SEKO 2.0 founding today's parent company, SEKO Global Logistics (SGL), in the process.The logical first step was to start SEKO UK in 2003. This was quickly followed by establishing SEKO Holland, then Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Australia and so on. 40 countries later and almost US$3bn in sales in 2022......

Contracted as an Independent Retail Supply Chain, Shipping and Customs Duty Consultant by Deloitte Touche, PriceWaterHouse Coopers, Michael Page and Hendersons to provide specialist strategic advice relating to Supply Chain Improvement and Development Programs for industry including Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sit-Up TV, BP, Cisco Systems, GSK, AstraZeneca and British Aerospace.

Ultimex was acquired in 1999 by a billion dollar NASDAQ/NYSE listed logistics company that had previously acquired our US business partner SEKO in 1996. I remained with the organisation as CEO EMEA for 3 years and developed and commenced execution of a European growth plan. During that period, the US side of the business was suffering badly following the 9/11 disaster. USF's CEO and my boss at the time was Sam Skinner (ex US secretary of transportation and White House Chief of Staff under George Bush). Sam bowed to stock market pressure to simplify the business, stop expanding into other countries and revert back to a US centric domestic business model. Subsequently, Sam requested I negotiate the break up of the international network that had been acquired over the past 6 years in Europe, Asia and the United States. The Boardroom meetings with former US and Asia business owners and the C-level of USF were "entertaining" to say the least but the negotiations resulted in 2 MBO's and ultimately led to the emergence of two very successful and highly respected international logistics companies; MIQ Logistics and SEKO Logistics.

Dis-enamoured with the crusty nature of the shipping industry, I sent a business plan (well, 5 pages and an excel spreadsheet) to a number of potential investors. Thanks to a loan of £25,000 from my first ever boss (thank you Christopher), a 2 person start-up named Ultimex was born. Ultimex was soon acknowledged as Britains 7th fastest growing private business over a 5 year period according to a Survey of Britain's fastest growing companies conducted by Deloitte Touche and the Independent on Sunday. It also featured in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 league tables twice. With a reputation for outstanding customer service and product innovation, sales grew organically very quickly with new clients becoming reliant on the the technology developed in-house which was ground-breaking at the time. This attracted significant interest in the company's technology and success leading to many unsolicited approaches to acquire the company by DHL, UTI and CH Robinson among others.I eventually conceded and sold to a 2 billion dollar US organisation listed on the NASDAQ called US Freightways (now yrc.com), a fortune 500 company. Ultimex had offices throughout the UK and circa 150 employees by this time with a very healthy bottom line, 6x above industry average.Do I regret selling it ? Kind of. It was my first my baby. :( and the company I gave my soul to and will always think most fondly of, but selling the business enabled me to step away from the day-to-day running of a business and operate at a more strategic (and less dependent) level which gave me acres more freedom to invest more broadly.

Supply Chain Management & Logistics

Business, Law, Accounting And Economics A Levels

Multiple/Various