Craig Pitchers Leads The Courier Guy Into a New Era as CEO
Military Logistics to Courier CEO
Craig Pitchers now leads The Courier Guy as chief executive officer, managing a career that began decades earlier running military supply chains and demobilisation operations, MyBroadband reported.
Pitchers oversees South Africa’s most popular parcel delivery company following its acquisition by Adenia Partners in 2024. At the time of the sale, the firm reported an annual turnover of R1.85 billion.
Born in Johannesburg, Pitchers completed his primary education in Mondeor and attended Marist Brothers High School in Linmeyer. Right out of high school in 1987, he joined D-Log, the Directorate of Logistics under the South African Defence Force.
Conscription under the Apartheid government required young white men to serve two years in the military. Refusing service carried a six-year prison sentence, a criminal record, and social stigmatization.
D-Log handled supply chains, equipment distribution, materiel maintenance, and depot storage across military zones. Pitchers entered the directorate during the height of the South African Border War.
South Africa backed UNITA forces against the pro-Soviet People’s Republic of Angola and Cuba in 1987. That backing culminated in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the largest conventional conflict on the continent since World War II.
Military forces deployed thousands of soldiers alongside 13 Olifant tanks and 120 Ratel infantry combat vehicles during the engagement. By 1989, shifting domestic politics and widespread anti-Apartheid rebellion forced a retrograde operation.
President PW Botha declared a nationwide State of Emergency to suppress domestic rebellion. That political pivot triggered a massive tactical withdrawal of troops and military supplies from Namibia and Angola.
Pitchers managed the demobilisation of border units in South West Africa. His official biography notes he handled everything from personal letters to foot-lockers.
Equipment moved from the Angolan border to a consolidation facility in Brits for redistribution, repurposing, or decommissioning.
Five years after his military discharge, Pitchers entered the private sector. He spent 23 years at UTi Worldwide in Centurion from 1993 to 2016.
During his tenure at UTi, Pitchers earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Cape Town. He also completed the Global Executive Development Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in 2013.
Pitchers transitioned to Dawn Wing in 2016, an express courier division of DPD Laser Express Logistics. He stepped into the role of commercial executive at DPD in June 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated domestic e-commerce demand.
In October 2021, Pitchers joined The Courier Guy as chief operating officer while founder Stephen Gleisner still ran the firm. Gleisner subsequently sold the company to Adenia Partners in 2024.
Following Gleisner’s departure, Pitchers assumed the chief executive officer role. He continues to direct the company’s expansion, focusing on parcel locker channel, pickup points, and smart last-mile solutions.