With the departure of Frits Mehrtens, The Association of European Vehicle Logistics – ECG – has elected Costantino Baldissara (pictured) as its new President. A ceremony was held to mark the occasion at its annual general assembly held in Zurich last week.
“It is truly an honour and privilege for me to have been elected as President of the ECG,” said Baldissara in his acceptance speech at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Friday. “It means having the responsibility of representing the interests at European level of such a prominent group of companies. This will be my main task – promoting the interest of the sector with the aim of making European finished vehicle logistics stronger, wealthier and an even more professional industry, an industry worth the respect of the customer and all the other stakeholders.”
Baldissara, who was Vice President during Mehrten’s two-year tenure, told assembled members that it was a challenging time to take on the presidency but that there were positive signs which should not be underestimated and that now was the time to consider the recovery.
The general meeting also saw the appointment of Horst Mosolf’s Wolfgang Göbel as Vice President and three new board members: Ray MacDowall, Managing Director of ECM (Vehicle Delivery Service); Veli-Matti Pärssinen, Director of Autolink Baltics; and Konrad Zwirner, Senior Vice President International Sales & Business Development at Hödlmayr.
David Dyke has replaced Kevin Wall as Material Planning and Logistics Director for Jaguar Land Rover. He has been with JLR for 22 years during which time he has held a number of positions within the company including a two-year assignment in North America, where he was responsible for supporting the introduction of new model programmes. Since returning to the UK, he has held a number of senior positions including Pre-Production & Prototype Management, Land Rover MP&L Operations and JLR Logistics Plant Group Manager.
YRC Logistics CEO and President Jim Ritchie left the company at the beginning of June. His responsibilities have been taken over by John Carr, who had been COO of the division and President of YRC Logistics in the Americas and Europe. Carr will handle the unit’s overall leadership as president and will report to company YRC Worldwide Chairman and CEO Bill Zollars.
Finished vehicle software specialist Vehnet has appointed David Ingham to its development team. Ingham was formerly an infrastructure architect and developer with global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. He specialises in web-based application development, and brings long experience and expert knowledge to support Vehnet in the development of a new flexible, browser-based visibility tool.
Commenting on the appointment, Group Managing Director of Vehnet, Steve Jones, said: “David’s experience outside our industry, as well as his specific expertise in web-based applications development, will be invaluable to us, not only in the delivery of our visibility tool, but also in expanding our horizons and enabling us to consider a range of new browser based applications. As such, his appointment represents an important step in the evolution of our business.”
Ingham added: “Although I have enjoyed being in a large company environment, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to get back into an active development role. I am looking forward to working in a small, highly specialised team and using the latest technology tools.”
