After almost eight years at the helm of Paccar Australia, Andrew Hadjkakou will step down as managing director this week. to be replaced by 25 year Paccar veteran Damian Smethurst, who takes over as managing director on Monday 8th May.
Paccar Australia’s new MD has has held a variety of leadership roles of increasing responsibility including director of operations, chief engineer, and most recently general manager of Paccar Parts Australia, where he has led the organisation to consecutive years of record levels of customer support and parts availability.
Andrew Hadjikakou took up the role of managing director in 2016 from American Mike Dozier after serving as head of sales and marketing at Paccar Australia for eight years and in engineering, marketing and sales management positions with Telstra, Smorgon Steel and James Hardie & Co prior to that.
Hadjikakou’s stewardship has seen the heavy duty market leader continue to dominate sales at the top end of the truck market in Australia and is leaving to pursue other interests outside of PACCAR and the road transport industry.
Damian Smethursrt acknowledged Hadjikakou’s great work and vision.
“Andrew has worked tirelessly throughout his 8 years leading PACCAR Australia. He has championed many critical initiatives including our recent $50M factory expansion and leaves the business in excellent shape,” Smethurst said.
“I am honored to have been entrusted with leading this amazing business. My focus is firmly on the people – our staff, our dealers, and suppliers – who make this organisation what it is, and on our customers, who are the reason for our existence. I am excited about supporting and empowering our teams, to foster a culture of operational excellence and innovation, and strengthening our relationships with customers across Australia and New Zealand,” he added.
-\
