James Whitfield

About

I've spent 20 years inside operational complexity — starting as a supply chain analyst at Caterpillar, eventually rising to COO at two mid-market logistics companies ($80M and $150M revenue). My fractional practice focuses on operational infrastructure: ERP and WMS systems, process design, vendor negotiation, and building the management layer that stops working at 200 people. I typically take on two companies at a time maximum.

Experience highlights

At Echo Global Logistics, I ran operations for the mid-market carrier segment ($150M revenue, 340 employees) through a period of 40% YoY volume growth. The core challenge was scaling the carrier onboarding and dispatch operations without linear headcount growth. We achieved a 3:1 volume-to-headcount ratio improvement through process redesign and selective automation.

Before Echo, I was VP Operations at Kenco Group, where I implemented a WMS system across 12 facilities in 9 months — on time and under budget. That project required managing five systems integrators, a 400-person operations team, and a CFO who was highly sceptical of the ROI model.

In fractional engagements, my value is most concentrated in the 150–400 employee range, where informal management systems have become a growth bottleneck. I build the operating cadence (weekly business reviews, escalation protocols, KPI reporting) that allows a founder to stop being the default answer to every cross-functional decision.

Expertise

Past companies

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