Kenneth A. May is the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

FedEx Office FedEx Office Print & Ship Services Inc. (doing business as FedEx Office; formerly FedEx Kinko's, and earlier simply Kinko's) is an American retail chain that provides an outlet for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground (including Home Delivery) shippin ...

, and chairman of the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

' board of trustees. In November 2011, he was appointed president of

Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and coffeehouse chain. Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), who bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans ch ...

, and later in July 2014, May became President and CEO of Topgolf International, Inc. In November 2018, May joined golf entertainment company, Drive Shack Inc. as CEO. He is currently CEO of JumpShot.

Early life and education

Born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, May attended Harding Academy there. A graduate of the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

and the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, May holds a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from the latter.

Philanthropy

May has a daughter Alexa, who was born 12 weeks prematurely. The baby was kept in a

neonatal intensive care unit A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit (ICU) specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. The NICU is divided into several areas, including a critical c ...

for three months. May credits

research with his daughter's survival. He became a volunteer, and was elected to their national board in 2004. He chaired their annual WalkAmerica fundraiser in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

in 2006, and was elected chairman of the board of

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s on .

Career

UPS

May began his career as a part-time supervisor at the

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...

(UPS) and worked there for three years but had no intention of becoming a UPS truck driver — a prerequisite for full-time work with the company — given his college degree.

FedEx

In 1982 he interviewed with

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

's Memphis hub and became a night-shift supervisor. He shipped 162,000 packages his first day. He never intended to stay with the company, expecting to only be there six months. He received a total of 13 promotions, becoming senior vice president of the domestic ground operations division of

FedEx Express FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's List of largest airlines, largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leadi ...

(where he managed 60,000 employees and oversaw all US operations), as well as senior vice president of their air-ground and freight services division.

Kinko's

In 2002, Kinko's CEO Gary Kusin tried to hire May to become his

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

, an offer the latter declined. May would become the CEO of the faltering company in January 2006, after FedEx bought the chain of stores in 2004. During his two-year tenure, May experimented with the chain's formula: changing stores' sizes, formats, and merchandise, as well as implementing "a kind of hub-and-spoke system

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

one large store would handle big print jobs for surrounding small ones." When May took the reins of FedEx Kinko's, the 22,000-employee company had a turnover rate of 80 percent; two years later, in January 2008, turnover was down to 18 percent, and complaints had fallen by 65 percent. May described his style as "based on being courageous enough to be bold", which included admitting mistakes and caring about people. Priding himself on his personable relationships with the chain's employees, May wrote upwards of 25–50 notes a week congratulating employees on birthdays, promotions, new babies, and achievements. In early 2006, May was the subject of a ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' article titled "People to Watch In International Business" in which author Jeremy Caplan opined that the 45-year-old May "won't reprint his résumé anytime soon." Kenneth May resigned as CEO of FedEx Office effective after a falling out with the corporation over future strategy of the copy chain; replacing May was his COO, Brian Philips. After the announcement, FedEx shares fell $1.77, or about 2 percent.

Krispy Kreme

On 28 November 2011, May became president of

Topgolf

In July 2013, May joined Topgolf as its chief operating officer. In July 2014, he was promoted to president and chief executive officer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Kenneth A. American chief executives American chief operating officers FedEx people living people Businesspeople from Memphis, Tennessee University of Memphis alumni University of Tennessee alumni year of birth missing (living people)