ACL Airshop, a global leader in air cargo Unit Load Device (ULD) logistics solutions to over 200 airlines, air cargo carriers, and other transportation clients, announces the appointment of James W. Harris as chief financial officer.
Harris has an extensive background in financial leadership, mergers & acquisitions, capital markets, and enterprise management.
• He began his distinguished career as a certified public accountant for over nine years with the “Big Four” firm of Price Waterhouse. He rose in management there, and leveraged his decade of public accounting and tax expertise to industry roles.
• Harris was chief financial officer of Forum Energy Technologies, which he helped grow from $25 million revenues to $1.7 billion through organic growth and more than 20 acquisitions. Forum was initially backed by private equity, and Harris was a key leader in taking it public on the New York Stock Exchange.
• He accomplished similar successes as CFO of Pacific Drilling S.A., where he restructured $1.2 billion of secured bonds, placed $50 million in revolving bank credit, and closed a major merger with Noble Drilling — all while managing the day-to-day finance, accounting, and strategic planning of that substantial enterprise.
Harris holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Brigham Young University, a master’s degree in accounting & taxation also from Brigham Young; and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Rice University.
Steve Townes, CEO of ACL Airshop, said: “Jim Harris brings decades of sophisticated strengths in both finance and corporate leadership to our aggressively growing enterprise. He will be a key contributor to our high-performance culture and our financial disciplines. Accelerated growth requires solid financial structure, astute analytical support, and rigorous reporting rhythms.”
ACL Airshop owns, maintains and leases more than 60,000 Unit Load Devices (ULDs), including air freight pallets and containers, issued from 55 airport hub locations across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. ACL Airshop's robust growth in recent years builds on the company's 38-year heritage as an air cargo equipment and logistics specialist. Its worldwide services network has expanded from 23 airport hub locations in 2016 to 55 at latest count. Today, the company maintains the largest independent inventory of lease-ready ULD assets in the industry for short-term solutions, and also has an array of longer-term ULD Management contracts. The company is deploying innovative logistics technologies such as "FindMyULD" which yield better fleet efficiencies and operational cost savings for customers. ACL Airshop was first-in-market among its competitive class to offer Bluetooth tracking & tracing of air cargo pallets and containers.
