Longtime UPS Tech Leader Juan Perez to Join Salesforce as CIO
At UPS, Mr. Perez created and led the company’s Advanced Technology Group
Juan Perez is joining Salesforce.com Inc. as its CIO from United Parcel Service Inc., where he helped develop and deploy technologies to optimize deliveries.PHOTO: UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC.
By Isabelle Bousquette Follow
March 17, 2022 6:56 pm ET
United Parcel Service Inc.’s Chief Information and Engineering Officer Juan Perez is leaving this month after 32 years with the logistics company to become CIO of software company Salesforce.com Inc.
At UPS, Mr. Perez led the company’s Advanced Technology Group. He also helped develop and deploy a number of technologies to optimize deliveries and court new customers, including the On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation (Orion) system for calculating efficient routes for drivers.
Mr. Perez said he would apply those experiences in his new role at Salesforce.
“UPS really has been an incredible place for me to really learn the value of technology in running a company,” he said, adding the pandemic-fueled rise of e-commerce and ongoing supply chain challenges have pushed the value of the company’s technology further into the spotlight.
Mr. Perez said he felt he had reached a good point to retire, and on March 1 UPS announced his retirement. But he said the opportunity at Salesforce came up and it excited him. He will start in his new role on April 4, after leaving UPS on March 31, according to statements from the companies.
“I am thrilled that Juan is joining Salesforce as CIO. He has a deep understanding of how to leverage technology to drive growth and scale, and has a strong track record of building impactful, high-performing teams,” Bret Taylor, Co-CEO of Salesforce, said in a statement.
Mr. Perez is likely to interact with customers more at Salesforce than at UPS because software company customers are often other CIOs, according to Tim Crawford, CIO strategic adviser at Los Angeles-based advisory firm AVOA.
Part of what a CIO brings to companies like Salesforce is the ability to connect with other CIOs, Mr. Crawford added. “The connections and relationships that he’s bringing to that organization are going to be spectacular,” he said.
Both Salesforce and UPS are really technology companies with a primary focus on supporting customers and there will be some similarities between their CIO roles, Mr. Perez said.
At UPS, Mr. Perez said he worked on ways to improve the routing of delivery drivers and to better engage with customers. Additionally, he said he tested drones and autonomous vehicles and continued to advance the company’s analytics and research practice.
In 2010, Mr. Perez helped develop the Orion system, a 1,000-page algorithm designed to calculate the most efficient routes for UPS drivers who were on average making 120 stops a day. The algorithm takes into account special delivery times, road regulations and private roads that aren’t on maps.
UPS also credits Mr. Perez with creating its Advanced Technology Group, which is aimed at identifying and experimenting with emerging technologies such as blockchain.
UPS introduced artificial intelligence chatbots in 2016 to help customers find nearby UPS locations, calculate shipping rates and locate packages. Also that year, UPS delivered an inhaler to an island near Boston by drone.
Mr. Perez said he leaves behind a great team that will continue his work, including an effort to deploy hand-held devices to drivers and a plan to put radio frequency identification tags on packages.
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