Americold Announces CFO Transition and Expanded Leadership Roles to Support Company’s Growth Plan
Americold (NYSE: COLD) announced that Christopher “Chris” Papa will join as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective February 23, 2026.
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Rhea-AI Summary
Americold (NYSE: COLD) announced that Christopher “Chris” Papa will join as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective February 23, 2026. The company said Scott Henderson will serve as Interim CFO during the transition and Jay Wells has departed. Nathan Harwell will take on an expanded role as Chief Legal and People Officer. Americold reaffirmed its fourth-quarter AFFO per share outlook of $0.36–$0.38 and will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on February 19, 2026.
Positive
- Appointed CFO with nearly 40 years of real estate finance experience
- CFO start date set for February 23, 2026 providing clear timeline
- Reaffirmed Q4 2025 AFFO per share $0.36–$0.38
- Combined Legal and People Office to unify HR and compliance functions
Negative
- Departure of prior CFO Jay Wells creates near-term leadership change
- Interim CFO arrangement persists until February 23, 2026
Details
News Market Reaction – COLD
On Jan 27, the first trading day after this news, COLD closed 1.39% below the previous close.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus for the Jan 27 session.
Key Figures
- Q4 AFFO per share low
- $0.36
- Expected Q4 AFFO per share within reaffirmed 2025 outlook
- Q4 AFFO per share high
- $0.38
- Expected Q4 AFFO per share within reaffirmed 2025 outlook
- Outlook year
- 2025
- Full-year 2025 AFFO outlook reaffirmed
- CFO effective date
- February 23, 2026
- Chris Papa to become EVP and CFO
- Earnings release date
- February 19, 2026
- Planned release of Q4 and full-year 2025 results
- Experience of new CFO
- 40 years
- Chris Papa’s background across real estate and finance
Historical Context
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Disclosure of 2025 distribution tax treatment and per-share breakdown.
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Scheduled Q4 and full-year 2025 results and conference call.
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Partnership with On the Run to expand convenience distribution in Australia.
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New directors, Finance Committee, and cooperation agreement with Ancora.
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Declared Q4 2025 dividend of $0.23, up 5% year over year.
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Key Terms
affo financial
cfo financial
cpa financial
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
Seasoned Real Estate Executive Chris Papa Appointed Chief Financial Officer Effective February 23, 2026;
Company Reaffirms Full-Year 2025 AFFO Outlook
ATLANTA, Jan. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: COLD), a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics, real estate, and value-added services, today announced that Christopher (“Chris”) Papa will join the Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective Monday, February 23, 2026.
Papa is a highly regarded public-company finance leader with nearly 40 years of experience across real estate, accounting, tax, investor relations and corporate finance. He currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at CenterPoint Properties, a leading developer, owner and manager of industrial real estate. His prior experience includes CFO roles at both Post Properties and Liberty Property Trust, reflecting a strong track record of leading finance functions at large, publicly traded real estate platforms. He began his career in public accounting, is a CPA, and later served as an audit partner at BDO and Arthur Andersen. Americold engaged Ferguson Partners to assist with the CFO appointment.
“We are thrilled to welcome Chris to the Americold leadership team as our next CFO,” said Rob Chambers, Chief Executive Officer of Americold. “His extensive real estate experience and strong financial acumen align well with our strategic focus as we continue to execute against our 2026 priorities and position the Company for future growth. Chris is well known to the investment community and will play a key role in strengthening our balance sheet, supporting disciplined capital allocation, and helping to drive long-term value creation for our shareholders.”
As part of the transition, Jay Wells, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has departed the Company. During the transition period, Scott Henderson, Americold’s Chief Investment Officer, will serve as Interim Chief Financial Officer until Papa’s appointment becomes effective.
“We appreciate Jay’s contributions to Americold over the past two years,” Chambers said. “He has built a strong finance team, and I wish him well in his future endeavors. Scott has a deep understanding of Americold’s business, and we expect his experience and leadership will bring continuity across our finance organization during this brief interim period.”
Americold also announced that Nathan Harwell, Chief Legal Officer, will assume the expanded role of Chief People Officer, in addition to his current responsibilities. As Chief Legal and People Officer, Harwell will oversee the Company’s Legal, Compliance, and Human Resources functions, supporting Americold’s commitment to associate engagement and organizational alignment. Harwell’s background in leading diverse teams positions him well to support Americold’s long-term strategic priorities.
“As we continue to execute our 2026 plan, these leadership alignments strengthen our ability to support our customers and associates across our global network,” Chambers concludes.
Reaffirming 2025 AFFO Outlook
The Company expects to deliver fourth-quarter AFFO per share of between
About Americold
Americold (NYSE: COLD) is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics and real estate, with a more than 120-year legacy of innovation and reliability. With more than 230 facilities across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America – totaling approximately 1.4 billion refrigerated cubic feet – Americold ensures the safe, efficient movement of refrigerated products worldwide.
Americold’s facilities are an integral part of the global food supply chain, connecting producers, processors, distributors, and retailers with tailored, value-added services supported by responsive and reliable supply chains. Leveraging deep industry expertise, smart technology, and sustainable practices, Americold delivers worldclass service that creates lasting value for customers and the communities it serves. Learn more at www.americold.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements about future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future financial and operating performance and growth plans, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are not statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations of future results we express or imply in any forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include the following: failure to execute on growth strategies and opportunities, rising inflationary pressures, increased interest rates and operating costs; national, international, regional and local economic conditions, including impacts and uncertainty from trade disputes and tariffs on goods imported to the United States and goods exported to other countries; periods of economic slowdown or recession; labor and power costs; labor shortages; our relationship with our associates, the occurrence of any work stoppages or any disputes under our collective bargaining agreements and employment related litigation; the impact of supply chain disruptions; risks related to rising construction costs; risks related to expansions of existing properties and developments of new properties, including failure to meet budgeted or stabilized returns within expected time frames, or at all, in respect thereof; uncertainty of revenues, given the nature of our customer contracts; acquisition risks, including the failure to identify or complete attractive acquisitions or failure to realize the intended benefits from our recent acquisitions; difficulties in expanding our operations into new markets and products; uncertainties and risks related to public health crises; a failure of our information technology systems, systems conversions and integrations, cybersecurity attacks or a breach of our information security systems, networks or processes; risks related to implementation of the new ERP system; risks related to defaults or non-renewals of significant customer contracts; risks related to privacy and data security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions and related foreign regulations; changes in applicable governmental regulations and tax legislation; risks related to current and potential international operations and properties; actions by our competitors and their increasing ability to compete with us; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; the potential liabilities, costs and regulatory impacts associated with our in-house trucking services and the potential disruptions associated with our use of third-party trucking service providers for transportation services to our customers; liabilities as a result of our participation in multi-employer pension plans; risks related to the partial ownership of properties, including our JV investments; risks related to natural disasters; adverse economic or real estate developments in our geographic markets or the temperature-controlled warehouse industry; changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates; general economic conditions; risks associated with the ownership of real estate generally and temperature-controlled warehouses in particular; possible environmental liabilities; uninsured losses or losses in excess of our insurance coverage; financial market fluctuations; our failure to obtain necessary outside financing on attractive terms, or at all; risks related to, or restrictions contained in, our debt financings; decreased storage rates or increased vacancy rates; the potential dilutive effect of our common stock offerings, including our ongoing at the market program; the cost and time requirements as a result of our operation as a publicly traded REIT; and our failure to maintain our status as a REIT.
Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continues,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “objectives,” “intends,” “may,” “opportunity,” “plans,” “potential,” “near-term,” “long-term,” “projections,” “assumptions,” “projects,” “guidance,” “forecasts,” “outlook,” “target,” “trends,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements may contain such words. Examples of forward-looking statements included in this press release include, but are not limited to, those regarding our 2025 outlook, our management changes, including the potential impact of such management changes, and our growth strategy. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. Other risks, uncertainties and factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. We assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future except to the extent required by law.
Contacts:
Americold Realty Trust, Inc.
Investor Relations
Telephone: 678-459-1959
Email: investor.relations@americold.com
Media Relations
Telephone: 762-821-9631
Email: mediarelations@americold.com
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