Ritchie Bros. announced that Sharon Driscoll, Chief Financial Officer, and Karl Werner, President, International, have been named interim Co-Chief Executive Officers, in addition to their current roles effective Oct. 1, concurrent with the date of CEO Ravi Saligram's departure.

Saligram will work closely with Driscoll, Karl Werner and the executive team to assure a smooth transition. The board continues its search for a successor to Saligram as CEO.

Ritchie Bros. also announced the following appointments and promotions:

• Jeff Jeter, who recently was appointed President, Upstream and Emerging Businesses, North America will now also assume responsibility for digital operations. He will continue to play an important role in accelerating momentum behind key growth initiatives including oversight of North American strategic accounts, the Government business and the commercial roll-out of Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions.
• Kari Taylor, currently Chief Sales Officer, U.S. Regions, will become President, US Regions, overseeing both sales and operations functions in the US.
• Kieran Holm, currently Senior Vice President, Operations Excellence & Efficiencies, will become President, Canada, responsible for all aspects of the region's sales and operations.
• Matt Ackley, currently SVP, Product Management & Digital Marketing will become Chief Marketing Officer responsible for the entire marketing function including digital product management and the global development of Ritchie Bros. Asset Solutions.

Jeter, Taylor, Holm and Ackley will continue reporting directly to the CEO.

The company also announced that Erik Olsson, a Director of the company since 2013, has been named Vice Chairman as part of the board's succession process. Beverley Briscoe will continue as Board Chair through May 2020 and intends to remain on the Board of Directors through 2021.

"It has been a privilege and an honor to lead the transformation of Ritchie Bros. I am highly confident about our future growth prospects given our outstanding management team, technology enabled platform driving significant network effects, and ability to penetrate all segments of the market with a full suite of multi-channel solutions and portfolio of growth initiatives,” Saligram said. “I firmly believe that Sharon and Karl in collaboration with the executive team will successfully guide Ritchie Bros. during this interim period in executing our strategic plan to drive growth and add shareholder value while continuing to keep the customer at the heart of everything we do. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our employees for their support and I am optimistic that our best days are ahead of us."

The leadership moves were announced along with the company's second-quarter results.

The company reported net income attributable to stockholders for Q2 2019 increased 18 percent to $54 million compared to the same period in 2018.

Selected Consolidated Results

• Total revenue in Q2 2019 increased 27 percent to $393.2 million as compared to Q2 2018.
• Service revenue in Q2 2019 increased 9 percent to $234.6 million.
• Inventory sales revenue in Q2 2019 increased 68 percent to $158.6 million.
• Operating income in Q2 2019 increased 20 percent to $78.0 million.

For the full results see the press release here.