John Lauer, EVP and CCO, announces retirement plans

Matson, Inc. announced that John Lauer, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, will retire on July 1, 2026, having led the sales, marketing, pricing and customer service activities of the company over the past 19 years.

The company concurrently announced that Chris Scott, Senior Vice President, Transpacific Service and Corporate Pricing, will be promoted to succeed Lauer as EVP and CCO when Lauer retires in July.

"John is a role model for leadership at Matson. He embodies values to which we all aspire – teamwork, mutual respect, integrity, accountability, and innovation – and lives them every day. During his tenure, John has influenced the evolution of virtually all of our business processes and made them better," said Matt Cox, Chairman and CEO. "I want to express my deep gratitude to John for his years of dedicated service and many contributions to Matson's success."

Under Lauer's leadership, Matson has reinforced its standing and reputation as the leading carrier in its core domestic markets. He has also led the company's organic growth internationally, expanding its industry-leading expedited services between China and the U.S. West Coast and introducing Matson's brand of service into important new markets with oversight responsibility for all operations in Asia. He has also been a driver of company initiatives, leveraging the latest technology to introduce new management tools that will improve strategic decision-making into the future.

"As a result of our longstanding bench development and succession planning efforts, we have a dynamic veteran Matson leader in Chris Scott, who is well prepared to take the baton," said Cox. "Chris will bring 34 years of broad industry experience to his new role - the majority of which has been in leadership roles across Matson operations and commercial departments. Working alongside John and Qiang Gao, our SVP, Asia, he has been integral to the successful growth of our China services over the past decade."

Having begun his career in transportation and logistics in 1992, working in trucking and warehousing operations, Scott joined Matson in 1995 as a customer service representative at Matson's Customer Service Center in Phoenix, rose to a leadership position in that organization, and later served in a series of increasing leadership positions in operations and sales at Matson. He was promoted to senior vice president, transpacific services in February 2021 and was appointed to his current role in January 2026.

The company also announced that its succession plan will elevate Tony Crisafulli, Director of Trade, Transpacific Service, to the position of Vice President, Transpacific Service when Scott's appointment becomes effective on July 1.

Crisafulli, a 30-year industry veteran, joined Matson in 2025 and in his current role, is responsible for key commercial aspects of Matson's China service, including assisting in the management of the trade relating to overall strategy, customer relationships, and allocation management. In his new role, he will be responsible to lead the commercial efforts for Matson's China services, reporting to Scott.