Mahindra Logistics has appointed Pirojshaw (Phil) Sarkari (pictured) as its new CEO following the departure of Sanjay Sinha, who has left the Mahindra Group to pursue “other interests”.
Sarkari has over 18 years of experience in the logistics and airline businesses and his last assignment was as managing director and head of UPS India, where he was part of start-up operations. Prior to UPS India, he worked with Jet Air.
He joins the company as it prepares to accelerate growth over the next three to five years and build on Sinha’s achievements.
Having joined the company in 1999 Sinha set up the service-oriented logistics division for parent carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra, building up a logistics business team to make strategic improvements in the company’s supply chain management offering.
Colin MacDonald is moving from his position as production control director at Nissan’s Sunderland plant in the UK to take up a new position as vice president of Purchasing and SCM at Renault Nissan. His move follows the departure of Mark Sutcliff who is leaving for “personal reasons” and returning to the UK.
MacDonald will assume full responsibility in April following a handover period during which he will be working with Sutcliff.
”I am sad to leave the Sunderland plant as I have been particularly enjoying my role,” MacDonald told Automotive Logistics News. “However, I am very excited about the new opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The Alliance logistics organisation has been created to make hard synergies happen – I see my new role as key to delivering these breakthroughs.”
No announcement has yet been made about MacDonald’s successor at NMUK.
The ECG has appointed Mike Sturgeon as the new executive director of the association, following the departure of Mark Morgan, it was confirmed yesterday. Sturgeon is a 20 year veteran of the automotive and vehicle logistics industry, having spent 16 years with Toyota, including as the director of UK vehicle logistics, and later in Brussels as general manager of planning and administration for the European vehicle logistics group, as well as general manager of vehicle logistics operations. Later, he worked in the UK at vehicle logistics provider Autologic under John Merry, the then CEO, and most recently with Merry again at the vehicle logistics start-up, Quantum.
“I’m passionate about this industry and always have been,” said Sturgeon. “When the opportunity came to do this job I knew it was something that I really wanted to do, and I came to an agreement with Quantum that allowed me to do it.”
Sturgeon, who only began handover proceedings with Morgan last week, will meet with the board of the ECG for the first time next week, where he says his agenda for the association will be set. However, he highlighted several important issues, including increasing the ECG’s membership, as well as improving communication both across the sector, including with OEMs as well as with periphery suppliers, including IT companies and equipment providers. He also left the door open to deeper collaboration with other associations, such as AIAG in the US.
Sturgeon added that he hoped his background with an OEM would increase his ability to work together with manufacturers. “I hope that the fact that I’ve worked for an OEM would make it easier for me to knock on their doors and have conversations, because they would know that I understand their problems. Beyond that there are not many people in the industry that have worked on both sides of the fence. I’m sure the fact that I have that experience will be useful.”
PSA Peugeot Citroën has appointed Vincent Rambaud as CEO of Peugeot with effect from April 2.
Rambaud, who was previously executive director of Gefco, joined PSA in 2007, taking charge of the Mercosur Business Unit and became a member of the PSA Peugeot Citroën General Management Committee. He was appointed director of the company’s Latin America region in 2009,
He will report to Jean-Marc Gales, who previously held the position in addition to his role as board member in charge of the Peugeot and Citroen brands at parent PSA/Peugeot-Citroën. Gales succeeded Jean-Philippe Collin in June 2009, making Rambaud the third CEO at Peugeot in less than a year.
Commenting on Rambaud’s appointment Gales said, "Vincent Rambaud's international experience will be a strong factor in successfully meeting the challenge of Peugeot's globalisation, at a time when the marque, on the strength of a new identity and a totally revamped, expanded range, is rediscovering a growth dynamic".
In other moves, equipment pooling supplier CHEP has announced the appointment of Dolph Westerbos as the new group president for CHEP’s activity in the EMEA region. He will take up his new post in mid-April.
Meanwhile, Paul Brooks, Sales Director at Unipart Logistics, has been appointed the new chairman of the Sector Skills Council for the freight logistics industry, Skills for Logistics. Brooks succeeds Andrew Callaghan who had held the position since July 2003.
