Coregistics Announces New Senior Leadership Team, Including Victor Crawford as Executive Chairman

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 4, 2024--

Today, Coregistics, a portfolio company of Red Arts Capital (“Red Arts”), announced the appointment of Victor Crawford as its new Executive Chairman. Victor served as an Executive Advisor to Red Arts prior to his new role. This appointment marks a moment of transition for Coregistics as the company deepens its industry knowledge and expertise with the addition of an experienced executive from within the Red Arts ecosystem.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241204168197/en/

Victor previously served as the CEO of the pharmaceutical segment at Cardinal Health, where he oversaw the distribution of healthcare and consumer products. Prior to Cardinal Health, Victor served as the COO at Aramark and as the President of North American field operations at Pepsi Beverages Company. He is currently the lead independent board director at The Hershey Company and a board member at Saputo.

“Victor’s extensive industry experience represents a strategic addition to the Coregistics team,” said Nicholas Antoine, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Red Arts Capital. “He brings over 40 years of supply chain and distribution operations experience, and we are thrilled to have him on board. Under his leadership, we know Coregistics will continue to move in new and innovative directions.”

Victor began as an Executive Advisor to Red Arts, providing strategic insights on new investment opportunities and participating in the firm’s annual Supply Chain Executives Conference. Now, as Executive Chairman, Victor is positioned to execute Red Arts’ value creation strategy and lead Coregistics through its next phase of growth. Drawing on his prior experiences, Victor will continue to foster innovative solutions to support the evolving needs of Coregistics’ customers.

Red Arts Capital acquired Coregistics, now the largest pure-play contract packaging company in North America, in June 2022. The acquisition was financed through Red Arts Capital’s flagship fund, Red Arts Capital Opportunity Fund I, along with significant co-investment raised from LPs, family offices, and other strategic investors. Coregistics provides unique primary and secondary packaging solutions to a wide variety of consumer goods companies. From packaging design and material sourcing to customization and distribution, Coregistics delivers the right combination of services that customers need to successfully deliver their products to the market. With its strategic locations across North America, totaling over 3.0 million square feet of state-of-the-art space, Coregistics has the agility and scalability to meet the growing demands of its customers in a constantly changing industry.

“As our largest acquisition to date, which was made possible through significant co-investment with mission-aligned partners, this deal represents a new phase in Red Arts’ journey,” said Chad Strader, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Red Arts Capital. “I first met Victor in 2010 when we were both working at Pepsi, and over our years working closely together, I have been incredibly impressed by his ability to build with strong teams and guide market-leading companies. This acquisition and our work with Victor are another step on our path to continue scaling Red Arts and improving global approaches to supply chains and logistics.”

About Red Arts Capital

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Red Arts Capital is a leading investment firm with over $300 million in assets under management, with a focus on supply chain-related and logistics businesses. Red Arts Capital seeks to partner with and invest in proven, successful businesses that are uniquely positioned in their market and led by superior management teams to execute the value creation strategy and generate strong shareholder returns. With sector expertise and a commitment to responsible stewardship and excellence, Red Arts Capital supports its portfolio companies through its operational playbook, world-class network of operating partners, advisory councils and supply chain expertise.

Victor Crawford, Executive Chairman (Photo: Business Wire)

CHIBA, Japan (AP) — A Japanese court on Wednesday sentenced an Australian woman to six years in prison for smuggling amphetamines into the country, despite accepting her testimony that she was tricked as part of an online romance scam.

The Chiba District Court said it found Donna Nelson, 58, from Perth, Australia, guilty of violating the stimulants control and customs laws. It ordered her to pay a fine of 1 million yen ($6,671) in addition to serving a prison term.

Nelson was arrested at Japan’s Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, on Jan. 3, 2023, after customs officials found about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of phenylaminopropane, a stimulant, hidden under a false bottom in a suitcase she was carrying as checked luggage.

Nelson told the court that she did not know that drugs were hidden in the suitcase and that she was carrying them for a man she hoped to marry.

The man, whom she met online in 2020, told her he was the Nigerian owner of a fashion business. In 2023, he paid to travel to Japan via Laos, and asked her to collect dress samples from an acquaintance in Laos, the court said in the ruling. She was supposed to meet him in Japan but he never showed up, according to prosecutors.

Nelson has already been in custody for nearly two years. The court said 430 days of that will be counted toward her sentence.

Presiding Judge Masakazu Kamakura said that although Nelson was deceived, she had a sense that something was wrong with the arrangement and that something illegal could be hidden in the suitcase, and she could have stopped.

Kamakura said Nelson was taken advantage of her desire to marry the man and that there is room for “sympathy” for what she did.

He imposed a shorter sentence than would be typical for the amount of drugs she was carrying, after prosecutors had demanded 10 years in prison and a fine of 3 million yen (about $20,000).

Nelson’s lawyer Rie Nishida said the ruling was unjust and that she planned to appeal. “We will fight until the end,” she said.

On Wednesday, Nelson sobbed as the verdict was read out. One of her daughters, Kristal Hilaire, wiped away tears as she looked on from her seat in the audience.

“We are disappointed and devastated by the court’s verdict in our mum’s case," Hilaire told reporters outside the court. “We maintain that our mum was the victim of a romance scam. She is the victim of a crime and not a criminal. She has always been against drugs.”

Hilaire said the past few weeks had been a difficult time for the family but that they have come together to support each other and Nelson during the trial, and that they will keep fighting “until we can bring her home.”

But Hillaire said she is worried about her mother, devastated and much thinner. “I worry about how she would handle another six years.”

Several other family members who attended earlier sessions, seeing Nelson for the first time since her arrest nearly two years ago, returned home ahead of the verdict.

Associated Press video journalists Mayuko Ono in Chiba and Ayaka McGill in Tokyo contributed.

Kristal Hilaire, a daughter of Australian citizen Donna Nelson, speaks to reporters at the Chiba District Court before the verdict for Nelson in a drug smuggling case, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Chiba, east of Tokyo. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)

Kristal Hilaire, a daughter of Australian citizen Donna Nelson, speaks to reporters at the Chiba District Court after the verdict for Nelson in a drug smuggling case, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Chiba, east of Tokyo. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)

Kristal Hilaire, a daughter of Australian citizen Donna Nelson, speaks to reporters at the Chiba District Court after the verdict for Nelson in a drug smuggling case, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Chiba, east of Tokyo. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)

The Chiba District Court is seen where the opening day of the trial over Australian citizen Donna Nelson for allegedly attempting to import drugs into Japan is taking place Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Chiba, near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Family members of Australian citizen Donna Nelson walk out from the Chiba District Court after the opening day of the trial over Nelson for allegedly attempting to import drugs into Japan Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Chiba, east of Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)