Nissan announces senior management changes in North America

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nissan today announced a series of senior management appointments in North America intended to further aid the company's progress as it enters the final year of the "Power 88" mid-term business plan. Power 88 is a focused plan to grow sustainable operating profit margins while strengthening the company's overall performance worldwide.

In North America, the company has made continual progress on improving its operating profit through a steady stream of well-received new product launches. These new products have led to consistent growth in Nissan's car, crossover and SUV sales and have helped the company gain market share in the U.S. in eight of the last nine years.

"Today, we're announcing changes to our North American leadership team that will ensure our region's key leadership roles are right-sized and aligned with the significant scope and complexity of our growing region," said José Muñoz, executive vice president, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML) and chairman, Nissan North America (NNA).

All changes are effective Apr. 1, 2016, unless otherwise noted:

Administration, Finance & Human Resources

Scott Becker, Senior Vice President, Administration and Finance, NA, is named Senior Vice President, Administration, NA. In this newly defined role, Becker will have responsibility for the region's administrative functions including: Corporate Services, Audit, Information Systems, Market Intelligence, Corporate Planning and Program Management Office (PMO), Information Security, Legal, Government Affairs and Corporate Development and Social Responsibility. In addition, he will serve in a leadership role for various global corporate initiatives, working closely with NML to give the North American region a key insight and influence on critical global actions. Becker will continue to report to José Muñoz for the North American related business.

Carlos Servin, Vice President, Finance, NA, is named Senior Vice President, Finance, NA. In this newly defined role, Servin will have primary responsibility for overseeing the corporate finance function and ensuring that NNA is on track to meet the financial goals of Power 88. The Renault-Nissan Alliance Customs and Trade office will also now report directly to Servin, who will now report directly to Muñoz.

Mark Kaczynski, President, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. (NMAC), will now report directly to Muñoz.  This elevation of reporting will provide additional support in NMAC's ongoing initiatives to drive profit and sales in North America, and help enhance alignment between regional and corporate goals and objectives.

Rebecca Vest, Vice President, Purchasing, NA, is named Vice President, Corporate Development and Social Responsibility. In this newly created role, Vest will oversee a variety of functions that serve to enhance the company's corporate partnerships, corporate social responsibility and environmental footprint. She will oversee the following functions: Diversity, Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy, Sustainability and 4R, OEM Partnerships and Internal Audit. She will be based in Franklin and report to Becker.

Mike McConnell, Vice President, Corporate Planning Office (CPO) and Financial Products, NMAC is named Vice President, Consumer Credit and Customer Service, NMAC. In addition to his new role, McConnell will retain responsibility for Commercial Credit. McConnell will report to Kaczynski, and he will split his time between Franklin and NMAC headquarters in Dallas.

Andres de la Parra, General Director, Nissan Renault Finance Management (NRFM), is promoted to Vice President, CPO and Financial Products, replacing McConnell. De la Parra will maintain oversight of NRFM, and his successor as General Director at NRFM will be named at a later date. He will be based in Franklin and will also report to Kaczynski.

Greg Jones, Director, Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP), Smyrna, is promoted to Senior Director, Manufacturing HR, NA. In this new role, Jones will take responsibility for all U.S. manufacturing HR strategy and oversight, plant safety, labor relations and manufacturing communications (shared responsibility with Kristina Adamski, Director, Group Communications).   He will report to Andrew Tavi, Vice President, Legal, Government Affairs and Human Resources.

Paul O'Brien, Director, Talent Management, replaces Jones as Director, HRBP, Smyrna. He will be based at Smyrna, reporting to Jones. 

Melissa Coulson, Senior Manager, Talent Management, is promoted to Director, Talent Management, replacing O'Brien. In this role, Coulson will have responsibility for all Talent Development and Training throughout North America. She will report to Tavi and be based in Franklin.

Rodney Francis, Senior Manager, HRBP, Canton, is promoted to Director, HRBP, Canton, reporting to Jones. Francis will be based in Canton.

Sales & Marketing

Erik Gottfried, Director, Dealer Network Development (DND) Strategy, is named Director, Business Strategy in the Regional Strategy and Planning Office (RSPO). In his new role, Gottfried will oversee the areas of Strategy and Acceleration Planning. He will report to Szymon Walus, Senior Director, RSPO, and will be based in Franklin.

Toby Perry, Director, Nissan Sales Operations, replaces Gottfried as Director, DND Strategy. He will also be based in Franklin and will report to David Kershaw, Vice President, DND.

Bart Buttles, Area General Manager, Nissan Southeast Region, is promoted to Director, Nissan Sales Operations, replacing Perry. Buttles will report to Judy Wheeler, Vice President, Sales, Nissan Division U.S. He will be based in Franklin.

Monozukuri

Hiroki Hasegawa, Alliance General Director, Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organization (RNPO) is named Vice President, Purchasing, NA. He also assumes Vest's role as North American Regional Purchasing Head for RNPO. Hasegawa-san will report to John Martin, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, and he will be based in Franklin.

Carol Jean Milner, Senior Manager, Supplier Account Manager, RNPO, is promoted to the new position of Director, Global Supplier Account Officer, with dual reporting to Hasegawa-san and Shohei Yamazaki, Alliance Global Director, RNPO. Milner will be based in Farmington Hills where she will be in the Materials, Chassis and Stamping Parts Purchasing Group with responsibility for fuel system, exhaust and parking brake components.

Kouryou Han, Subdirector, Purchasing, Nissan Mexico (NMEX), is promoted to Director, Purchasing, NMEX. In this newly created position, Han will lead purchasing project management  activities for Mexico projects, overseeing cross-functional activities to achieve key cost and timing milestones. He will report to Gary Zoller, Senior Director, Vehicle Purchasing, RNPO, and he will be based in Toluca.

Jay Boyte, Senior Manager, Manufacturing Engineering, Decherd, is promoted to Director, Manufacturing Engineering, Decherd. He replaces Fumihiro Katsumata, who is returning to a new assignment with NML in Japan and will report to Mark Swenson, Vice President, Production Engineering and Quality.

Ricky Knight, Director, Supply Chain Management (SCM) is retiring from Nissan effective June 30, after 33 years of exemplary service to the company. Knight started in 1983 as a technician in manufacturing operations at the Smyrna plant. Since 1995, he has held a number of managerial roles in SCM and Manufacturing. He was named to his current position in 2005 and has since led a number of successful initiatives enhancing both the communication flow and systems between the sales demand and production control operations.

Allyson Fearns, Senior Manager, SCM, Decherd, is promoted to Director, SCM, Smyrna, replacing Knight. She will report to Mark Sharp, Senior Director, SCM.

Sergio Casillas, Director, Plant Manager for Aguascalientes 2,is promoted to Senior Director, Manufacturing Operations, Nissan Brazil (NBA). He will be based in Resende and report to Hitoshi Mano, Divisional Vice President, Monozukuri, Latin America.

Raul Cedillo, Subdirector, Manufacturing Engineering at Aguascalientes 2 is promoted to Director, Plant Manager – Aguascalientes 2, replacing Casillas. Cedillo will report to Armando Avila, Vice President, NMEX Manufacturing.

Wesley Custodio, currently Director, Production, NBA, transfers to NMEX for a short-term assignment as Subdirector, Manufacturing at Aguascalientes 2. He will report to Armando Avila.

Research and Development (R&D) and Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS)

Takehiro Terai, Vice President,Total Customer Satisfaction, will report directly to Muñoz.  The elevation of this reporting demonstrates the critical importance of Product Safety and Product Quality in our organization and for our customers.

Masayuki Fukuda, Deputy General Manager, Vehicle Quality, Nissan Technical Center – Atsugi (NTC), is promoted to Vice President, NTCNA-Mexico/Brazil. He will be based in Toluca and will report to Kunio Nakaguro, Senior Vice President, R&D – NA. Fukuda-san replaces Yutaka Saito, who has returned to a new assignment at NTC in Japan.

Hiromasa Akaho, Manager, Electronic Architecture Development, NTC, is promoted to Director, Electrical, HVAC and Thermal, Accessories, NTCNA-Mexico. He will report to Fukuda-san and will be based in Toluca.

Yutaka Sekino, Deputy General Manager, Body Electronics, NTC, is named Director, Electrical, HVAC/Thermal Engineering, NTCNA. He will be based in Farmington Hills and report to Chris Reed, Vice President, Component Engineering, NTCNA. Sekino-san replaces Tetsuo Sasaki, who is returning to a new assignment at NTC.

Takahiro Watanabe, Deputy General Manager, Product Development, NTC, is named Director, Chassis Engineering, NTCNA, also based in Farmington Hills, reporting to Chris Reed. He replaces

Yutaka Amamiya, who is returning to a new assignment at NTC.

Yutaka Fujimoto, Manager, Product Strategy, NTC,is promoted to Director, Powertrain, also based in Farmington Hills, reporting to Chris Reed. He replaces Shigehito Hosoi, who is returning to a new assignment at NTC.

Yasufumi Okadome, Deputy General Manager, Customer Performance and CAE, TPG, is named to the new position of Director, Chassis Performance, Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) Test and Planning. Okadome-san will report to Makoto Haraguchi, Senior Director, Vehicle Evaluation and Test and LCV Projects. He will be based at NTCNA-Arizona.

Nissan Design America (NDA)

Shinichiro Irie, Design Director, Nissan and Infiniti, NDA, will return to a new assignment in Japan. To create more clear separation between the Nissan and Infiniti brands at NDA and align with other global design studios, Irie-san's current responsibilities will be divided between two new directors.

Ken Lee, Senior Design Manager, is promoted to Design Director, Nissan, based in San Diego. Lee will report to Taro Ueda, Vice President, NDA.

Hirohisa Ono, Senior Design Manager, is promoted to Director, Infiniti Design. Ono-san will also be based in San Diego, reporting to Ueda-san.

Nissan Mexico (NMEX)

Pedro De Anda, Director, NMEX Product Planning, is named Chief Product Specialist, Light Commercial Vehicle Business Unit (LCVBU), NML. He will report to Philippe Guerin-Boutaud, Corporate Vice President, Global LCVBU, and will be based in Yokohama, Japan.

Omar Zuniga, Subdirector, Product Planning, Nissan Brazil, is promoted to Director, NMEX Product Planning, replacing De Anda. He will report to Airton Cousseau, President, NMEX and Michael Bunce, Vice President, Product Planning, NA. He will be based at NMEX headquarters in Mexico City.

Juan Carlos Ortega, Subdirector, CMM and Strategic Marketing, is promoted to Director, Marketing, NMEX. He will be responsible for strategic marketing activities, advertising and CMM. Ortega will be based in Mexico City.

Nissan Canada (NCI)

Didier Marsaud, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, NCI, is promoted to Director, Corporate Communications, NCI. He will continue to report to Joni Paiva, President, NCI and David Reuter, Vice President, Corporate Communications, NA.

About Nissan North America
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized annually by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year since 2010. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.InfinitiUSA.com, or visit the U.S. media sites NissanNews.com and InfinitiNews.com.

About Nissan Motor Co.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 247,500 employees globally, Nissan sold 5.32 million vehicles and generated revenue of 11.38 trillion yen (USD 103.6 billion) in fiscal year 2014. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of more than 60 models under the Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun brands. Nissan leads the world in zero-emission mobility, dominated by sales of the LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle. It is the best-selling EV in history. For more information on our products, services and commitment to sustainable mobility, visit our website at and http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/.

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Contact

Kristina Adamski
Nissan Group Communications
615-725-5828
kristina.adamski@nissan-usa.com