Rico Back

Rico Back was born in 1954 in Hamburg, Germany.[3]

In 1989, Back was a founding member and managing director of German Parcel, a European-wide parcel logistics firm. In 1999 Back led the sale of German Parcel to Royal Mail, subsequently rebranded as GLS.[4] The company is now one of the largest ground-based deferred parcel networks in Europe.[5] Its revenues grew from £1 billion in 2002 to £3 billion in 2019.[6] It contributed 64% of Royal Mail Group's adjusted operating profit from 30% of group revenues.[7] In 2019 the division was estimated to be worth £2 billion based on an operating profit of £180 million.[8]

Back served as the CEO of GLS for 18 years before taking over as Royal Mail Group CEO in 2018.[9] As CEO of Royal Mail Parcels (2016 to 2018), Back was responsible for all international activities as well as the national parcel business.[2] [3] He succeeded Moya Greene as Royal Mail CEO when she retired in June 2018. He received the same £790,000 pay and benefits package as Greene, plus a possible £1.3 million bonus and a £6 million golden hello; his personal taxes were paid in and to the UK.[10]

During his tenure, UK parcel volume growth reached a four-year peak in 2018 and Royal Mail's share of the UK parcel market grew to 53% by volume by March 2018, driven by winning business from online retailers.[11] In its 2019 full-year results, a year into Back's tenure as CEO, Royal Mail announced a five-year turnaround plan focused on expanding the company's parcels business internationally, addressing the growth in online deliveries. As part of the plan, Royal Mail pledged to invest a further £1.8 billion in its UK postal service.[12]

On 15 May 2020, Back resigned as CEO of Royal Mail Group, with Keith Williams taking immediate control before being replaced as interim CEO by Stuart Simpson.[13][14] His departure came as Royal Mail experienced a rise in parcel volumes and a downturn in letter volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's revenues annual revenues in April 2020 had fallen by £22 million against the previous year.

Back and his family live in an apartment overlooking Lake Zurich,[15] Switzerland, where they have been resident for more than ten years and where he is legally domiciled.[16]