Flexport had an executive exodus days before Dave Clark’s surprise departure as three ex-Deliverr leaders left

• Several former Deliverr leaders departed Flexport in the last week.
• The exodus came before former CEO Dave Clark announced his departure on Wednesday.
• Flexport acquired Shopify’s logistics operation, including Deliverr, in June.

Before former CEO Dave Clark abruptly resigned on Wednesday, Flexport was experiencing an exodus of executives.

According to two people familiar with the situation, at least three senior engineering leaders — Artur Rivilis, Flynn Fishman, and Stephanie New — have left in the last two weeks.

Each was a senior executive at Deliverr before it was acquired by Shopify in the summer of 2022, and then by Flexport this spring. Rivilis was an engineering vice president, Fishman was a senior director, and New was a director.

Rivilis expressed concerns about Flexport’s revenue targets in a departure message seen by Insider, and said the company’s culture was “less people-centric and bottoms-up than Deliverr” and Shopify had been.

Representatives from Rivilis, New, and Flexport did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Fishman did not respond.

Clark, who was Amazon’s global consumer CEO before joining Flexport last September, announced his departure on Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. Clark mentioned Flexport founder and former CEO Ryan Petersen’s desire to return to his role leading the company in his post. Flexport’s board of directors, according to Freightwaves, has asked Clark to resign.

Flexport executives told employees during a company town hall on Thursday that cost-cutting measures, possibly including job cuts, were on the way, according to multiple sources. They did not say how many jobs would be affected or when job cuts might occur. According to the sources, Petersen stated during the town hall that Flexport was spending too much money and that the company needed to focus more on helping customers.

According to two people familiar with the situation, during the town hall, Petersen claimed credit for negotiating Flexport’s acquisition of Shopify Logistics earlier this year, claiming he had personally met with Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke. Shopify acquired a 13% equity stake in Flexport in that transaction, which closed in June. Flexport also became a Shopify partner for its product Shop Promise, which displays shipping timelines for participating merchants at the checkout.

Clark and Shopify did not respond to Insider’s request for comment on Petersen’s remarks.

In a series of posts on X on Thursday and Friday, Petersen described other changes coming to the company. “Strategic Plan, Day 1: Make Better Decisions!” he said in one. Flexport would rescind 75 job offers and sublease office space in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York, he said.

According to The Information, Clark fired at least five executives he hired from Amazon on Thursday.

Flexport had previously laid off 20% of its workforce in January, just four months into Clark’s tenure.