People and Positions

Nov. 1, 2012
Trailer, truck, & body OEMs James L Hebe, Navistar Inc senior vice-president, North America sales operations, has announced his retirement. Hebe has served

Trailer, truck, & body OEMs

James L Hebe, Navistar Inc senior vice-president, North America sales operations, has announced his retirement. Hebe has served in this role since rejoining the firm in 2008. He began his career at International Harvester (Navistar's predecessor) in 1971 as a management trainee in Boston, and later became a heavy-truck salesman for International Trucks. After leaving International Harvester, Hebe held leadership roles with American LaFrance, Kenworth Truck Company, and Kenworth of Tampa, culminating with his appointment to chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Freightliner in 1992. After leaving Freightliner in 2001, he became head of Seagrave Fire Apparatus LLC in Clintonville WI. In 2006, he became dealer principal of Co-Van/Cascadia International before rejoining Navistar.

Gary Young has been hired as general manager of Summit Body & Equipment, a truck body manufacturer based in Portland OR. He previously served as regional manager with Buyers Products Company.

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) has named Anthony Sippel its director of sales and marketing. Since 2005, he has served as the company's recreational vehicle and commercial bus product manager.

Component manufacturers

Air Power Systems Company (APSCO Inc) has promoted Rebecca Reynolds and hired Randy L Parker and Jennifer Corn. Parker has joined APSCO as controller. He has more than 14 years of manufacturing industry experience and served as controller for SiteMaster, chief financial officer at Victorian Heart Company, and regional controller at Mid-Continent Concrete. Reynolds has been promoted to Midwest sales manager, and her territory will include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. She has worked with APSCO for seven years in inside sales. Corn has been added to the sales team at Winter-Fab, an APSCO company. She most recently served as membership coordinator for the Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC has appointed Claus Beyer vice-president and general manager, Brake Controls and Electronics Technology. He spent the past 14 years with the Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Group, most recently as chief operating officer for KB Commercial Vehicles China and general manager for Knorr-Bremse Brake Equipment in Shanghai, China.

Hansen International Inc has hired John P Hillis as director of sales for the company. He is rejoining Hansen, having previously served as the company's chief financial officer from 1995-1998.

John Wiland was recently hired as product manager for lighting manufacturer Optronics International, and he will be based at corporate headquarters in Tulsa OK. He is filling the position vacated by Jonathan Field, who was promoted to director of purchasing and supply chain management.

VMAC has promoted Stuart Coker from senior production engineer to quality engineer to support integration of quality functions into the firm's manufacturing and supply chain departments. He has worked with VMAC's engineering team since September 2000 and in the engineering field since 1987.

Michelle Simpson has been named senior marketing coordinator at Sika Corporation, Industry and Automotive Divisions, based in Madison Heights MI. She has been employed with the firm for more than six years.

Dealers/distributors

HDA Truck Pride has added Nikki Paschall as marketing assistant and administrative coordinator. She previously served as vice-chair and general chair of the Northwood University International Auto Show and interned at the Detroit Auto Show all four years of her college career.

Industry association profiles

Accuride Corporation announced that Rick Dauch, its president and chief executive officer, has received the Quality Leader of the Year Award from the Automotive Division of the 80,000-member American Society for Quality (ASQ) at the organization's 2012 awards banquet in Rochester Hills MI. After joining Accuride in his current role in February 2011, Dauch launched a companywide initiative to adopt consistent quality systems and lean manufacturing principles as part of a drive to deliver more dependable performance.