FedEx chief traces career to a roommate’s rejected interview

FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam says his career at the shipping company began with an opening meant for someone else. In a Fortune podcast interview, he described how a roommate’s rejected interview in 1991 led to a job that started a three-decade climb to the top of FedEx.

Subramaniam was finishing an MBA in marketing and finance at the University of Texas at Austin when the call came, according to Fortune. He had already earned science and engineering credentials from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Syracuse University, but the job market was tight during the early-1990s recession, when U.S. unemployment rose above 7%, Fortune reported.

On Fortune’s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast with editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell, Subramaniam said he heard his roommate decline an interview with FedEx because the roommate had decided to return to India. Subramaniam asked for the phone number, called the recruiter and offered to send his own résumé instead.

FedEx accepted the request, and Subramaniam joined the company at what he described to Fortune as its lowest level. The chance call became the entry point for a career that later took him through regional and global leadership roles.

A long rise through FedEx

Subramaniam first worked at FedEx’s headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, according to Fortune. He later took on international assignments, including a move to Hong Kong, where he handled marketing for the Asia-Pacific region from 1996 to 2003.

He told Fortune that much of his advancement came from accepting roles when senior leaders asked him to take them. The work gave him experience across countries and business functions, he said on the podcast.

Subramaniam said he did not seriously consider the possibility of becoming chief executive until around 2003, when he became regional president of FedEx Canada. He told Fortune that his interest grew as he moved into more senior roles and saw where the path could lead.

After nearly three years running FedEx Canada, he moved into broader corporate posts, including executive vice president of marketing and communications at FedEx Corp. In 2019, he became president and chief operating officer, a role he held as the company dealt with the pandemic-era surge in e-commerce demand, according to Fortune.

In 2022, FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith turned over the chief executive role to Subramaniam. The succession made Subramaniam only the second CEO in FedEx’s more than 50-year history, Fortune reported.

Results under his leadership

Since Subramaniam became CEO, FedEx shares have risen 102%, beating the S&P 500 by 28 percentage points, according to a Barron’s analysis cited by Fortune. Fortune also reported that the company is on pace to save $2 billion this year, twice its target, through cost reductions tied to his strategy.

FedEx credits Subramaniam with reshaping its operating strategy, expanding its e-commerce business and placing global supply chain data at the center of the company’s plans, according to the company profile cited by Fortune.

Subramaniam told Fortune that people who want to become CEOs should understand the demands of the role before pursuing it. He said the job comes with stress and sacrifice, and that each person has to decide whether that tradeoff is worth it.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.