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Welcome back to Bluff City Biz. Each Monday, we speak with someone in the know about our top stories from the previous week. Follow along for insight into key developments and analysis of all things Memphis business.
This week, we’re talking about Frederick W. Smith, his recently-announced replacement Raj Subramaniam, and Blue Oval City developments with Bo Allen, First Horizon regional president for West Tennessee, Arkansas and North Mississippi.
What’s next for FedEx?
 The first shipment of Moderna's vaccine arrived at FedEx's Cold Chain Center Dec. 20, 2020. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)
When announcing he would, after nearly 50 years, step down from his role as CEO, FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith was focused on the future.
“While I am immensely proud of what we have created, I don’t like to look backward,” Smith said in a letter released to FedEx employees. “We must always be looking ahead.”
The company, which began with a focus on urgent, overnight deliveries, became one of world’s top logistics operators with annual revenue of $87 billion.
Along the way, Memphis became known as the “logistics capital of the world.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that anyone has done more for Memphis than Fred Smith,” Allen said, “including the notoriety he's created for Memphis by helping create wealth for a lot of people in this community.”
Allen said the announcement that Smith will be replaced by longtime FedEx executive Raj Subramaniam was anticipated for some time.
“I think (Smith) has known for a long time that this day was coming, and (Subramaniam) is a really talented guy,” Allen said. Allen has gotten to know Subramaniam because the future FedEx CEO sits on the First Horizon board.
“He’s a really smart guy, but he’s very grounded and down to earth,” Allen said of Subramaniam. “He’s obviously worn many hats at FedEx, and he’s risen quickly through the ranks, which is hard to do in a company that size. You’ve got to be able to manage multiple tasks that are complex, and you have to be able to strategically plan, which he’s done for years.”
Report shows Blue Oval City, Lightning ‘crucial’ to Ford’s long-term goals
 Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO, speaks during a presentation on the planned factory to build electric F-Series trucks and the batteries to power future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, in Memphis, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
According to its 2022 sustainability report, Ford Motor Co. is factoring West Tennessee and its planned $5.6 billion manufacturing facility at the Megasite of West Tennessee heavily into its longterm goal of reaching carbon neutrality.
And while Blue Oval City isn’t expected to begin operations until after 2025, site prep for construction has already begun in Haywood County.
Walbridge, the Detroit-based construction company named design builder for Blue Oval City, is already having supplier outreach meetings, hopeful of tapping into the local workforce in preparation for the massive build.
“Whenever you have a project of this magnitude, you have to have workers and you have to have companies that can come in and deliver, whether it be electrical, or HVAC, or paving,” Allen said.
“I think the local construction industry will thrive,” he said, “and we’ve got some great contractors in this community.”
The Megasite Authority of West Tennessee board of directors voted Thursday, March 10, to approve the site plan for the project, enabling construction to begin.
“I’m really excited for this community to be able to get this kind of project,” Allen said. “I also think we’re going to get a lot of people moving to this community for some of those jobs. I think we’ll see a boom for East Memphis, Germantown, Arlington, and all over West Tennessee.”
More Bluff City Biz:
 Groundbreaking for the Grand Hyatt is slated to begin this May, and Caption by Hyatt will open this summer. The new hotels, as well as the Hyatt Centric, shown here, are part of the One Beale development. “It’s super exciting to say in four to six weeks, we’re going to put a shovel in the ground for a 24-story tower,” Carlisle Corp. CEO Chase Carlisle said. (Ziggy Mack/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
Carlisle Corp. will begin construction on the Grand Hyatt in May. The developer also announced the opening of Caption by Hyatt and plans for the former Nylon Net Building site.
Originally known as Sunset Serenades, the rooftop parties began in 1939, when the east end of the hotel’s roof was enclosed.
 Thomas McMurry Garrott (Submitted)
After a two-year, pandemic-induced absence, the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce held its business expo, providing a way to promote local services.
Thomas McMurry Garrott, a visionary in the local banking market and known as the “father of supermarket banking,” died Wednesday, March 30. He was 84.
An Olive Branch couple is opening a pair of fitness-related businesses —CycleBar and StretchLab — in The Lake District, the mixed-use development south of Interstate 40 and Canada Road in Lakeland.
Ernest Strickland of the Black Business Association joins Eric Barnes on The Sidebar.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is giving away billions of dollars to nonprofits, and Youth Villages just received $25 million.
 Deana Ferguson sets up her Southern Chicks booth at the Agricenter’s Spring Market Apr. 1, 2022. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Spring colors and spring spirit were on full display Friday, April 1, as patrons gathered at Agricenter International for the start of the annual Spring Market shopping event.
The Orpheum Theatre is now under private ownership after the Orpheum Theatre Group officially signed the deed Monday, March 28.
Marie Chisholm-Burns, dean of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Pharmacy, has received several prestigious honors recently.
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