Nissan's Latin America and the Caribbean division includes 37 countries and during fiscal year 2012 sold more than 125,000 vehicles.
Castro will replace Takahiro Yano, who recently returned to Japan after completing a four-year assignment.
Castro joins Nissan after more than 20 years of experience in the Latin American automotive industry, specifically in sales, aftersales, fleets and marketing. He held a number of positions in Ecuador and Venezuela. Most recently, he was commercial director at GM Ecuador.
"The Latin American and Caribbean region is very important to Nissan due to its relevant growth potential. Santiago Castro's ample experience will be of use to attain our regional long term expansion goals," said Roman.
Jan Bures is to take up a new role at VW Group of America (VWoA) as executive vice president of Group After Sales and Services from the beginning of June. He was most recently head of the Group National Sales Company in Wolfsburg responsible for the implementation of process and structures in the Americas, which involved benchmarking and the integration of new group brands. He has been with the carmaker for the past 19 years holding a number of lead roles across the company’s global divisions, including Audi.
In his new role, based between Herndon, Virginia and Auburn Hills, Michigan, Bures will be responsible for steering the VWoA's spare parts operations, vehicle logistics, service systems, group market research and customer relations. He will report to Jonathan Browning, president and CEO of VW of America.
Bures’ appointment follows a number of new appointments at VWGoA. Ed Wilson has moved from his role as manager of port operations and metrics at the company to take up a new position as general manager of vehicle logistics. He replaced Joerg Schnackenberg who is returning to Wolfsburg, Germany at the end of June, where he will assume the position of project manager in the Regions Planning Department at Group Logistics focused on the North American region (read more here).
Mazda Motor has appointed Masamichi Kogai as its next CEO, replacing Takashi Yamamouchi (who will remain chairman of the board). The move is subject to shareholder approval at an annual meeting to be held on June 25. Kogai is currently head of production and purchasing and in charge of Business Logistics and IT Solutions.
He has been with Mazda for 36 years, with much of that time working in logistics, R&D and IT. Prior to his current role was director and senior managing executive officer in charge of Production, Business Logistics and IT Solutions.
Alexander Raczynski has been appointed managing director of Gefco’s division in the Czech Republic. Raczynski was previously head of Gefco’s unit in Bulgaria, which he helped establish in 2011. He joined Gefco in 2005 working in the Russian division first as financial controller and then as director of purchasing. He later went on to set up and development Gefco’s joint venture with Russian logistics provider Algaï, part of the Eurasia Multimodal Alliance (EMMA).
Gefco is now in its tenth year in the Czech Republic.
Hiab, the load handling division of Cargotec, has appointed Carl Gustaf Göransson as senior vice president responsible for its global markets business unit. He has also been made a member of the Hiab management team effective from 1 May.
Göransson, who has experience in the automotive and construction sectors, moves to Hiab from Volvo Construction Equipment where he was managing director and general manager, EMEA West, Region EMEA.
“We are building Hiab's sales organisation and network to become the industry benchmark for customer satisfaction globally,” said Axel Leijonhufvud, president of Hiab. “Carl Gustaf Göransson has extensive working experience in business development and leading an international sales operation. Appointing him further strengthens our global markets organisation.”
Remco Innemee has moved to a new role as managing director of Amsterdam Operations at logistics and transport provider DSV Solutions. He was previously business development director, Automotive at the company. He will retain responsibilities for DSV’s services for Renault-Nissan but now adds company responsibilities beyond the automotive sector. DSV is now looking for a replacement for this role.
K Line has promoted its managing executive officer Tsuyoshi Yamauchi to the position of managing executive director and promoted its executive officer Yutaka Nakagawa to the role of executive officer, director.
The moves are subject to approval at the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on 25th June.
K Line’s director and chairman Hiroyuki Maekawa has retired from his role but remains on the board as special executive advisor.
K Line’s director Takashi Yamaguchi became president of K Line Japan at the beginning of April.
James Squires has been appointed president of rail provider Norfolk Southern and will take up the position at the beginning of June. He is currently executive vice president of administration. In his new role, he will be responsible for the corporation’s administration, finance, law and corporate relations, and planning and information technology divisions.
“Jim is a forward-thinking railroader and a well-tested leader,” said Wick Moorman, chairman and CEO of Norfolk Southern Corporation. “As president, he will ensure that Norfolk Southern stays at the forefront of strategic planning, innovation, and financial performance.”
Squires joined Norfolk Southern in 1992 and served in several positions before taking up his current role in 2012.
In addition, in July this year Michael McClellan, currently vice president intermodal and automotive marketing, will become vice president industrial products. McClellan joined Conrail’s general marketing and sales organisation in 1985. In 1998, he was named assistant vice president performance planning for Norfolk Southern and became vice president intermodal and automotive marketing in 2000.
Jeffrey Heller, currently group vice president international intermodal, will become vice president intermodal and automotive marketing.
Heller joined Norfolk Southern’s intermodal department in 1994 as a marketing manager and has served as group vice president international intermodal since 2004.
