The Board of Directors of New Zealand-based Mainfreight, Ltd., parent company to CaroTrans International, has announced a new CaroTrans senior management structure designed to allow for global expansion of the brand.

Greg Howard has been elevated to global chief executive officer for CaroTrans International, with the responsibility of capitalizing on opportunities around the globe and building the CaroTrans brand and global NVOCC network, including acquisitions and agency development. Howard will continue to operate from his office in Union, NJ.

Michael Forkenbrock has been named to succeed Howard as president and is responsible for the continued success and development of the brand throughout North America. Forkenbrock joined CaroTrans and was named Central Region sales manager in 2001 and promoted to vice president, sales in 2003. A 1982 graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, he began his maritime career that year. He has held a number of increasingly responsible positions in sales and marketing. According to Howard, 'Michael has proven executive management skills and a customer-first philosophy that has served us well over the years. The future of CaroTrans in the United States will be in good hands under his tutelage.' He will operate from his office in Chicago.

Forkenbrock's new Management Support Team includes Richard Burke and Matt Spartz in two newly created positions.

Richard Burke has been named vice president, sales and marketing. He graduated from American University, Washington, DC, in 1989 and entered the logistics and trucking industry, moving into freight forwarding two years later and the NVOCC field in 1994. He joined CaroTrans in 2006 as branch manager of the Atlanta office. Most recently, he was regional sales director. Burke will remain in the CaroTrans Atlanta office.

Matt Spartz was announced as vice president, operations, based in the firm's office in Union, NJ. Spartz's new responsibilities include managing the productivity side of the growth and productivity spectrum of the CaroTrans organization. He will be responsible for operations, service contracts and the company's Global Agent Partnership Network. Now with nearly two decades of maritime experience, Spartz joined CaroTrans in 2000 as commercial manager in Union, NJ. He became branch manager, then vice president, business development.

In addition, Cindy Suggs was promoted from branch manager, Charleston, and named national systems and IT manager. Suggs is a long time CaroTrans team member, having joined the company in 1993. She has held positions of export manager, office manager, area operations manager and branch manager. From her Charleston office, her focus now will be on the continued development of an in-house IT system and expanding existing EDI and web capabilities.

In other personnel moves, Grant Morrison has been named branch manager in Charleston and Riyaz Jordan has been named branch manager in Union. Morrison joined the group in Melbourne, Australia, in 2000. He left his position as national import manager in 2006 to accept a reassignment to CaroTrans International in to Los Angeles as export manager and subsequently moved to Charleston in February. Jordan also joined the company in 2000 and held management positions in New Zealand as branch manager, Auckland, and later moved to Australia where he branch manager, Sydney, and recently New South Wales state manager, before moving to Union.