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Hub Group CFO, COO Exit as Firm Lines Up September Refilings
Company Says Costs and Accounts Payable Were Understated in Prior Financials
Key Takeaways:
- Hub Group will restate earnings for 2023, 2024 and portions of 2025 after identifying about $77 million in understated costs and liabilities.
- CFO Kevin Beth and COO Brian Meents are stepping down from executive roles but will remain as consultants to the company.
- Interim CFO Todd Heeter was appointed on a six-month contract as Hub Group searches for a permanent finance leader.
Two longtime Hub Group executives exited their leadership roles as the carrier works to rectify accounting errors that will see it refile earnings for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by mid-September at the latest.
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Former Hub Group Chief Financial Officer Kevin Beth (left) and Chief Operations Officer Brian Meents. (Photos via LinkedIn)
Oak Brook, Ill.-based Hub Group said May 28 that Chief Financial Officer Kevin Beth and Chief Operating Officer Brian Meents were stepping down from their positions after more than two decades and a decade with the carrier, respectively.
Beth will be replaced on an interim basis by Todd Heeter, previously the CFO at investment firm NorthMark Strategies and CEO of eponymous advisory firm The Heeter Group. Beth and Meents are set to serve as consultants to the carrier after their departures from executive roles.
A June 2 Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed Heeter will be employed on an initial six-month contract as a consultant. Heeter will be paid $125,000 a month in the role. Hub Group initiated a search for a permanent CFO, the company said May 28. Five Hub Group executives will take over Meents’ responsibilities.
“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, the company’s lead director, and Gary Yablon, chair of its audit committee, said in a joint statement in May.
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McNitt
“In connection with the review conducted under the direction of the Audit Committee, we are taking corrective actions, including enhancing our financial reporting processes and making changes to the company’s leadership team,” they added.
Hub Group first revealed details of the accounting errors in February. The carrier said an error resulted in the understatement of purchased transportation costs and accounts payable. The company estimated the size of the error at around $77 million.
The carrier will need to restate earnings for the years that ended Dec. 31, 2023, and 2024, and the quarters ending March 31, 2025; June 30, 2025; and Sept. 30, 2025.
Hub Group issued only partial earnings for the final three months of 2025 and the full year ending Dec. 31, 2025, as a result of the discovery of the error. It did not issue results for the first quarter of 2026.
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Yeager
In a business update issued May 28, however, CEO Phil Yeager said the carrier and brokerage saw stronger pricing in the second quarter of 2026, as well as increased opportunities to convert over-the-road traffic into intermodal business.
Reflecting on the first three months of 2026 a week earlier on May 21, the company noted steady intermodal demand due to truckload capacity exiting the market and lower brokerage volumes.
The company’s intermodal operations, particularly its temperature-controlled fleet, received a boost in 2025 from the purchase of Marten Transport’s intermodal unit for $51.8 million.
Hub Group ranks No. 14 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 2 in the intermodal segment of the market.
