General Dynamics CFO Jason Aiken resigned from XPO’s board of directors last week to join the carrier’s billionaire founder and executive chairman, Brad Jacobs, on the board of Jacobs’ latest startup, QXO.
Aiken left the XPO board effective Thursday, according to a securities filing. He was among six inaugural board members and eight company leaders announced by QXO, a building products distributor, the same day.
“I’ve known these leaders for many years and have great confidence in their ability to grow QXO into a tech-forward leader in building products distribution,” Jacobs said in the release. “We have a world-class executive team pursuing shareholder value out of the gate!”
Four of the six members of the QXO board are current or former XPO leaders, as Jacobs and Aiken join XPO CEO Mario Harik and Allison Landry, vice chair of XPO’s board. Harik and Landry are continuing in their current roles with XPO.
The other two members are Marlene Colucci, vice chair of GXO’s board, who has served as CEO of The Business Council in Washington, D.C. since 2013, and Mary Kissel, EVP and senior policy adviser at Stephens, who previously worked as a State Department adviser and a Wall Street Journal editorial board member.
The XPO alumni aren’t limited to QXO’s board. Eight of the 10 members of the startup’s senior leadership team have previously worked with Jacobs at the Greenwich, Connecticut-based LTL carrier.
Jacobs launched QXO with the acquisition of SilverSun Technologies and completed a $1 billion equity investment, $900 million coming from Jacobs Private Equity II LLC, according a QXO release.
Products distribution for construction and contracting firms is a lucrative industry that has also attracted high-profile M&A investment from the two biggest names in home improvement.
The Home Depot agreed to acquire International Designs Group, a platform company that owns and operates Construction Resources and other design-oriented subsidiaries, for an undisclosed price in November.
Lowe’s Companies likewise made a sizable investment in its Lowe’s Pro offerings with its $512 million acquisition of Maintenance Supply Headquarters in 2017.
