Hino Australia has an n ounces some significant senior management changes with the appoint to vice president positions for two of its key general managers.
The move follows the retirement in late 2020 of chairman and CEO Steve Lotter and will see president and COO Sam Suda take on the role of CEO supported by the two new vice presidents which the company says is part of its long-term aim’to strengthen its Australian operation and develop the experience of its leadership team in line with its customer-focused business plan’.
Bill Gillespie has been appointed to the role of vice president of brand and franchise development following his success as general manager of that division over the past six years at Hino, and following his 30 year career in strategy, network development, marketing and sales in the automotive industry.
The brand and franchise development division encompasses sales, supply chain, franchise development, product strategy, marketing and bus departments, all of which have been areas of significant focus for Hino recently.
Greg Bleasel has also been promoted to the new position of vice president of product support from his previous role as general manager.
The move for Bleasel is part of a move to bring all elements of customer support into one division and he will have expanded responsibilities including information technology alongside customer experience, parts sales, parts supply chain, service and technical support and national training departments.
Greg Bleasel is one of the founding members of Hino Motor Sales Australia starting in March 1995 and in that time has helped grow the parts and service business which has been recognised with numerous Hino global awards for both the parts and service operations.
“It’s a time of great growth in Hino and these new appointments are designed to offer strong leadership across the brand and within our company as we move into 2021 and beyond,” said Sam Suda.
“As Hino Australia transforms from a truck company to a customer solutions business, these changes will provide our customers with the support they require while ensuring we continue to develop the capacity and capabilities of our team and the network,” he continued.
“Outstanding leadership by Bill and Greg has been instrumental in Hino becoming one of Australia’s leading truck brands during a period of tremendous change, including during the global COVID-19 situation,” Mr Suda said.
As part of the restructure, two new general manager level positions have been created with, current national sales manager, Brian Wright, being promoted to general manager – sales and supply chain and Gus Belanszky to general manager – service and customer support.
Brian Wright’s success as national sales manager has included Hino achieving its best ever sales result in Australia in June 2020.
He brings more than 30 years of sales experience in both passenger cars and trucks to his new role, which now encompasses the area of the vehicle supply chain to support the company’s sales expansion plans.
Mr Belanszky’s move follows his extensive experience over the last 14 years with Hino Australia, most recently as service support manager.
“He now leads a vital customer-centric strategy providing fleet customers with solutions, which is what we know they expect from their reliable truck business partner.
Gus Belanszky’s new role includes the functions of customer experience, technical support, service support and training.
“These new roles support the ongoing innovation drive within Hino and transition us from just a truck company to a customer solutions company,” Mr Suda said.
“Hino is celebrating 55 years of success in Australia in 2020 and these changes will allow the brand to capitalise on a growing Australian market for light and medium duty trucks over the next five years,” he concluded.
All of the appointments are effective from 1st January 2021.
