Dive Brief:
- Hub Group’s CFO Kevin Beth and Chief Operating Officer Brian Meents have departed the logistics and transportation management company effective immediately, according to a Thursday press release. The departures are part of continued “corrective actions” the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company is making in connection to a $77 million accounting error reported in February, according to the release.
- Hub Group named Todd Heeter to the role of interim CFO and treasurer with immediate effect concurrent with Beth’s departure, according to the release. The COO responsibilities will be absorbed by senior leaders at this time, the company said. Beth and Meents will both be available “on a consulting basis” during a transition period.
- “The Hub Group Board of Directors views the integrity of the Company’s financial statements as a key pillar of our ongoing success,” Peter McNitt, lead director, and Gary Yablon, chair of the audit committee, said in a joint statement. “We will continue to prioritize finalizing our financial statements and becoming current with the filing of our periodic reports with the SEC.”
Dive Insight:
Both Beth and Meents are long-time veterans of the logistics management provider, with Meents joining in January 2016 as Hub Group’s VP of account management, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Beth, who has worked at Hub Group for 22 years, is leaving the top financial seat after approximately two years in the role, taking the CFO chair in January 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to the CFO seat, he served a three-year span as the company’s chief accounting officer beginning in July 2020, as well as a 16-year span as its controller and assistant treasurer starting October 2003.
His interim successor Heeter is joining Hub Group after about two years as CFO for alternative investment firm NorthMark Strategies, which he joined in 2023 to “lead a comprehensive, multi-year, enterprise-wide transformation of the finance organization,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Prior to NorthMark, he served as CEO and founder of The Heeter Group, a provider of CFO, CAO and strategic advisory services to companies.
The company’s board “appreciates Todd joining Hub Group and taking on the role of CFO and Treasurer on an interim basis as we work through the restatement of our financial statements and implement enhancements to our internal accounting controls,” Executive Chairman David Yeager said in a statement included in the release.
Heeter is joining the business as it continues to work to accurately restate its financial statements for the past three years, stemming from the identification of a $77 million error related to transportation costs.
In connection with the preparation of its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, the company identified that it had understated purchased transportation costs and accounts payable for the first nine months of 2025, according to a Feb. 5 press release. The total amount of the reduction of such costs related to that issue was $77 million, according to the February release.
Hub Group moved to assess the error and its impact on the first three quarters of 2025, as well as for its full-year 2024 and 2023, noting in a February filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its statements for the first nine months of 2025 were not to be relied upon.
Due to the error and the ongoing review of its disclosure and internal controls over financial reporting, the company has delayed the filing of its annual 10-K for 2025 as well as subsequent quarterly filings, according to SEC filings.
On May 11, the company’s audit committee issued a notice that previously filed financial statements, including annual reports for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, were “materially misstated and should no longer be relied upon,” according to a company filing.
The determination occurred after a review by the audit committee found certain transactions were either prematurely or “incorrectly recognized or not adequately supported” when recorded, according to the filing. Hub Group is continuing to review its accounting processes and has continued to discuss the matter with Ernst & Young, its registered public accountant.
The accounting investigation has also sparked concerns from shareholders: After the initial report of the error in February, law firm Hagens Berman announced an investigation into Hub Group “intentionally understated” its expenses, according to a release on its website at the time.
Shares of Hub Group stock fell by as much as 27% during market trading during the day following the initial report of the error, wiping out approximately $800 million in market capitalization, the shareholder rights law firm said at the time.
Hagens Berman is continuing its investigation into whether Hub Group misled investors, it said in a May 13 release, shortly after the business reported its 2024 and 2023 results were not to be relied upon and one day after the logistics management company announced it would be delaying the filing of its report for its Q1 of 2026.
“Now that we know that Hub Group’s admitted improper accounting goes all the way back to its fiscal 2023, we’re investigating whether the company may have intentionally understated expenses and monitoring what additional financial statement accounts may have been misstated,” Reed Kathrein, Hagens Berman partner and leader of the investigation said in a statement.
