Rico Back (born 1954) is a German businessman. He is a founding member and former CEO of German Parcel (now

GLS Group General Logistics Systems B.V., also known as GLS, is a British-owned logistics company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company was known as German Parcel when it was founded in 1989, by Rico Back. It was subsequently rebranded as GLS and is ...

). He was also the CEO of

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

from 2018 to 2020.

Early life

Rico Back was born in 1954 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany.

Career

In 1989, Back was a founding member and managing director of

German Parcel German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, a European-wide parcel logistics firm. In 1999 Back led the sale of German Parcel to Royal Mail, subsequently rebranded as GLS. The company is now one of the largest ground-based deferred parcel networks in Europe. Its revenues grew from £1 billion in 2002 to £3 billion in 2019. It contributed 64% of Royal Mail Group's adjusted operating profit from 30% of group revenues. In 2019 the division was estimated to be worth £2 billion based on an operating profit of £180 million. Back served as the CEO of GLS for 18 years before taking over as Royal Mail Group CEO in 2018. As CEO of Royal Mail Parcels (2016 to 2018), Back was responsible for all international activities as well as the national parcel business. He succeeded

Moya Greene Dame Moya Marguerite Greene OC, DBE (born 10 June 1954) is a Canadian businesswoman who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Royal Mail until 2018, having previously been CEO of Canada Post. Early life and education Moya Marguerite G ...

as Royal Mail CEO when she retired in June 2018. He received the same £790,000 pay and benefits package as Greene, plus a possible £1.3 million bonus and a £6 million golden hello; his personal taxes were paid in and to the UK. During his tenure, UK parcel volume growth reached a four-year peak in 2018 and Royal Mail's share of the UK parcel market grew to 53% by volume by March 2018, driven by winning business from online retailers. In its 2019 full-year results, a year into Back's tenure as CEO, Royal Mail announced a five-year turnaround plan focused on expanding the company's parcels business internationally, addressing the growth in online deliveries. As part of the plan, Royal Mail pledged to invest a further £1.8 billion in its UK postal service. On 15 May 2020, Back resigned as CEO of Royal Mail Group, with Keith Williams taking immediate control before being replaced as interim CEO by Stuart Simpson. His departure came as Royal Mail experienced a rise in parcel volumes and a downturn in letter volumes during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The company's revenues annual revenues in April 2020 had fallen by £22 million against the previous year.

Personal life

Back and his family live in an apartment overlooking

Lake Zurich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...

, Switzerland, where they have been resident for more than ten years and where he is legally domiciled.

References

Living people German chief executives 1954 births Royal Mail people {{Germany-business-bio-stub