Meet first black woman to lead a Fedex company
She rose from receptionist to CEO
Before Ramona Hood became CEO of a Fedex company, she was a 19-year-old single mother looking for a regular day job while taking night classes. ❚ "I just wanted a schedule that would be consistent," she recalled. ❚ Hood landed an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift in 1991 as a receptionist for Roberts Express, which later became Fedex Custom Critical. It didn't take long for her to develop that short-term win into a long-term pursuit of leadership, culminating in her latest promotion. ❚ Fedex Custom Critical promoted Hood from vice president of operations, strategy and planning to its president and CEO on Jan. 1, succeeding the retiring Virginia Addicott.
Hood is the first African American woman to lead a Fedex operating company.
“That is something we can be really, really proud of,” said Shannon Brown, Fedex Express chief diversity officer and senior vice president of Eastern Division U.S. operations.
Fedex Custom Critical, which operates under Fedex Logistics, provides time-critical shipping services. The Ohio-based company delivers hundreds of thousands of shipments annually, specializing in same-day and overnight shipping.
Hood said under her leadership, Custom Critical will be agile in addressing customer needs and using technology, all while “looking at things in ways we haven't in the past.”
Hood's climb to CEO and what's next
Hood's hiring as a receptionist evolved into roles in operations, safety, sales and more, allowing her to see how Fedex Custom Critical's different pieces work together. Hood said she became “pretty intentional and purposeful with gaining experience” all throughout the company.
“Over time, she began offering innovative and strategic ideas that distinguished her from her peers,” Fedex said in Hood's company biography.
One example of that, according to Hood, is when she started a pilot program allowing Fedex Custom Critical employees to work from home in the early 2000s.
“At that time, it was not common to have call centers where you would have individuals working from home,” she said. “I looked at our processes and the technology that we had, and I realized nothing was preventing us from that.”
Hood showed her leadership chops by heading subsidiary Fedex Truckload Brokerage before moving to an officer position at Fedex Supply Chain in 2016. She then returned to Fedex Custom Critical, a full-circle trip after starting there as a receptionist. The retiring Addicott advocated for Hood to succeed her.
While working at Fedex, Hood earned a business management degree from Walsh University, an Executive
MBA from Case Western Reserve University and raised a family. Hood lives in Ohio with her daughters, Mariah and Kayla.
"I've always worked as I've been raising my two girls," she said.
In the early days of her tenure as CEO, Hood wants to gain insight from employees, customers and independent contractors driving for Custom Critical. Her “Ramona Roundtables,” which she is wrapping up this month, have involved her talking with small groups of employees.
“The next thing I'll be doing is going out and spending time with customers and independent contractors,” Hood said. “I'm defining that as my ‘listen and learn tour.' ”
Special delivery for King Tut and Oprah
When Hood began with then-roberts Express, the company's primary focus was expedited shipments. That industry catered to the automotive industry's “just-in-time” production nature, but Custom Critical has diversified over time “to really go beyond that,” Hood said.
Fedex Custom Critical's portfolio today includes expedited ground and air shipping, secure transportation offerings and white glove services for shipments needing extra care. The company has a fleet of more than 1,400 vehicles and access to Fedex Express cargo airplanes for shipping through the sky.
Custom Critical can arrange for exclusive-use shipping, so only one customer shipment is being transported by the vehicle, and it provides "to the minute" pickup and delivery windows, Hood said.
Examples of shipments Custom Critical would fulfill include delivering concert equipment overnight, shipping a replacement part for a wind turbine or even handling ancient artifacts from King Tut's tomb for a moving exhibit.
Custom Critical's high-value, uninterrupted shipping expertise occasionally saves the day for celebrities, too. The company helped deliver holiday gifts to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for its “Oprah's Favorite Things” segment, Hood said.
It also delivered Hilary Swank's specially made organic wedding cake to her wedding.
“A brilliant combination of Fedex and creative planning by (friend Marcela Pezet) delivered our perfect chocolate cake just in time for our wedding,” Swank said in 2018, per USA TODAY.
Custom Critical's biggest opportunity for growth is in servicing the health care industry, Hood said.
Medical products may need to be regulated at certain temperatures, which Fedex can offer in its shipping.
“When you think about items such as medical devices or drugs, the ability of knowing once it's in the truck it stays at the necessary temperature or is not opened or compromised at any part of the transit — those are the values that we give,” Hood said.
Max Garland covers Fedex, logistics and health care for The Commercial Appeal. Reach him at max.garland@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2651 and on Twitter @Maxgarlandtypes.