Cubic Hires New ‘Chief Growth Officer;’ Replaces Head of Business Development

Cubic Transportation Systems has hired a new “chief growth officer,” who will oversee business development, strategy and marketing, as the struggling fare-system supplier seeks to win more new contracts and hold onto its existing business, Mobility Payments has learned.

The move, which is expected to happen Monday, will shift longtime Cubic senior vice president of business development Ian Woodroofe out of this role. He has been offered a job as “strategic advisor” to the president, sources said. Meanwhile, the company has laid off Bonnie Crawford, who has been serving as global vice president, customer experience, strategy and marketing only since September, sources said.

Recently installed Cubic Transportation Systems, or CTS, president Peter Torrellas recruited Rich Varos for the new role as chief growth officer, Mobility Payments has learned. He appears to come from Torrellas’ former company, U.S.-based Parsons. If true, CTS is bringing in an executive who styles himself as a turnaround expert, who helps “struggling businesses” become profitable. He worked most of his career at IBM.

A Cubic spokesperson did not confirm the creation of a new position, the naming of Varos to fill it or the dismissals of Woodroofe and Crawford from their posts. The moves will likely be announced internally soon.

Cubic is also believed to be creating another new role, that of “chief digital officer.” Few details were available on who was hired, if anyone yet, for this new position and what the job responsibilities will be.

Easing Woodroofe Out?
Some insiders see the new advisory job for Woodroofe as a way to ease the industry veteran out of the company. He had been under a cloud for several months.

Woodroofe got substantial blame for Cubic’s loss in May of a US$1 billion-plus contract for a new fare system in Melbourne, Australia, which went to rival Conduent; as well as Cubic’s failure to keep its business with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA. The transit agency instead awarded a $245.7 million contract to INIT last month.

And looking ahead, Cubic is competing for several important contracts, including new business in Ireland and Philadelphia and existing business in London and Sydney. Some of these contracts could be considered must-wins for the vendor.

Some industry observers believe Torrellas was brought in to shake up CTS by Cubic Corp.’s private equity owners, led by Veritas Capital. Veritas is said to be eager to prepare for the sale of Cubic Corp., which also includes a sizable defense-contracting business.

Veritas and Evergreen Coast Capital took Cubic private in the first part of 2021 with a $3 billion acquisition. The company is believed to have taken on a significant debt load. Ratings agency Fitch has not been impressed with Cubic’s progress, however, as Mobility Payments reported. In late July, it revised Cubic’s credit rating to negative from stable and downgraded the rating to B-. CTS laid off more than 200 employees, most in August.

Woodroofe would be the second top executive that Torrellas has dismissed from his post since officially taking over for former Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) president Jeffrey Lowinger last month. It follows the firing of Galen Chui, who was formerly CTS’ chief engineer and more recently has served as head of the vendor’s Asia-Pacific region.

Woodroofe, who spent 16 years with France-based Thales before joining Cubic in early 2016 as head of business development, noted in his LinkedIn profile that CTS booked more than $6 billion in new business and new-market growth since he took the helm. That business would have included such large enterprise contracts with transit agencies as those in New York, Boston, Brisbane and New Zealand. Most if not all of these projects are now behind schedule, however, which puts pressure on revenue.

And Melbourne and Atlanta were major stumbles for Woodroofe. Some insiders say he assured Cubic’s top brass that the vendor would win one or both of the contracts because it had superior technical offers, compared with other suppliers. The fact Cubic lost both projects could point, at least in part, to a growing image problem CTS has with transit agencies.

Crawford’s Discharge Unexpected
Meanwhile, since the new so-called chief growth officer is also expected to oversee marketing, strategy and partnerships, it appears to make Crawford’s position redundant. Her dismissal from Cubic was unexpected internally. She will likely leave the company by the end of the year.

Crawford is best known for her role running Cubic’s software-as-a-service mobile-ticketing unit, Umo, starting as general manager in June 2021. She has noted that Umo boasts a 100%-retention rate of its transit agency clients. As of last month, Umo had agreements covering around 75 agencies, 30 of them part of Cubic’s largest contract to date for Umo, with BC Transit in Canada. The deal covers at least 900 buses.

Most of the Umo transit agencies are small municipal bus operators. But the vast majority of CTS’ revenue comes from big enterprise fare-system projects, such as those in New York, London, San Francisco and Sydney.

So some observers question whether Crawford, who has only been in the fare industry for six years focusing on North America, had the necessary experience to fill a global role managing marketing and strategy for the industry’s largest fare-system supplier.

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