Toll Chairman to retire, new leaders announced

Toll Group has announced that John Mullen AO has decided to retire from the Toll Board at the end of June 2022, and that Toll’s Managing Director, Thomas Knudsen, will transition to the role of Toll Chairman.

Alan Beacham, currently Toll’s President Global Forwarding, will succeed Thomas as Managing Director. The appointments will take effect on 1 July 2022.

Toll Chairman, John Mullen said the time was right for a new leadership team to guide the company in its next phase of growth.

“With Toll’s performance firmly on the right track, a new strategy well underway, and a strong leadership team, now is an appropriate time to hand over to the next Chair to guide Toll to the next level of its growth. It has been an honour to serve as Chairman through a time when Toll has successfully overcome so many complex challenges to continue its vital role in delivering for the community,” Mr Mullen said.

Mr Mullen joined the Toll Board as Chairman in December 2016. Following his retirement as Chairman, he will continue to advise the Toll Board as a senior advisor.

Japan Post CEO and Toll Board Director, Kazuhide Kinugawa, paid tribute to Mr Mullen’s leadership of Toll as the company has transformed itself to grow as a leading logistics provider.

“The Toll Board would like to recognise the outstanding contribution of our retiring Chairman, John Mullen. Over the past six years as Chairman, his business wisdom and deep industry expertise have been critical in transforming Toll’s business to the place of stability and opportunity it holds today,” he said.

Mr Mullen said that Toll is well placed to deliver on its next phase of growth.

“Under Thomas’s stewardship as Managing Director, Toll has returned to underlying growth, improved safety, and reshaped the company strategy to accelerate global growth with the divestment of the Express business, Mr Mullen said.

Thomas leaves a positive legacy having created the vision and strategy for ‘Toll 2.0’ and laying the foundations to deliver sustainable growth through a simpler business and a focus on customer led innovation. On behalf of the Board, I thank Thomas for his significant contributions and service to the company and am delighted that Toll will continue to benefit from Thomas’s experience in his new role as Chairman,” he added.

“Alan is the right person to lead Toll Group into the future. He is a values-driven leader with a strong command of the business and proven ability to drive strong results in challenging markets. Alan joined Toll in 2018 and faced into significant challenges to transform the Express business and deliver a significant turnaround in financial performance as the business battled intense global competition and high operating costs," Mr Mullen concluded.

Alan will be based in Singapore.