Dave Gress Joins RealCold as CFO

October 28, 2024—RealCold, an operator and provider of cold chain services for the food sector (including manufacturers, grocers, and the food service industry), announced it has hired Dave Gress as Chief Financial Officer. Dave brings over 25 years of leadership in finance and operations to RealCold, including 19 years in the supply chain industry, with 7 years dedicated to the cold food chain. Most recently, he served as SVP of Finance, North America, at Lineage, Inc., overseeing North America’s Warehousing and Integrated Solutions business. During his tenure at Lineage, he played a key role in integrating over 40 acquisitions and was instrumental in the company’s successful IPO in July of this year. Prior to Lineage, Dave spent 12 years in finance leadership roles at Ryder, and 8 years at Ford Motor Company. He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Operations Engineering, both from the University of Michigan. 

Keith Goldsmith, Chief Executive of RealCold, commented on the hiring, “As RealCold continues to grow with our five currently operational facilities, two under-construction facilities, and a third breaking ground in November, we recognized the need for a skilled leader to usher in the financial rigor to scale our organization. Dave’s track record of success within the logistics space, and more specifically within the cold chain, demonstrates his proficiency in driving strategic initiatives that are highly accretive to the businesses he serves, and creates meaningful long-term value and transformative change. Moreover, Dave’s leadership provides a distinct advantage to RealCold allowing us to operate in a fashion equivalent to our publicly traded competitors.” 

Regarding the decision to join RealCold, Dave stated “My passion for the past two decades has been grounded in financial strategy.  Yet elements of my engineering background persist, especially in those instances when I can contribute to constructing and implementing frameworks which up-level organizations at critical inflection points. As I spoke with Keith, he described RealCold as a well-capitalized, high-growth company on the verge of that critical juncture; I am thrilled to accept the CFO role to help the enterprise navigate this journey, and to collaborate with the existing team as it continues to pursue its mission of offering innovate customer-centric solutions to the food industry.”

About RealCold

Established in 2022, RealCold was founded to address the unmet needs of the food cold chain sector. By combining high-growth strategic locations, state-of-the-art Class A facilities, and exhaustive offerings that include traditional storage programs and diverse value-added services (including DTC), the company has positioned itself as a collaborative and integrated provider for food retailers, producers, and distributors. This mission is reinforced through its highly bespoke solutioning and customer-centric approach. The RealCold platform operates a national, omni-channel network, inclusive of a comprehensive direct-to-consumer program, which can reach the majority of U.S. consumers within 1- or 2-day ground service. For more information on RealCold, please visit https://realcold.com/