Accuride Promotes, Hires Top Executives to Focus on Global Growth
Component supplier Accuride Corp. announced three top executive appointments to support its planned expansion as a supplier of wheel-end products to the global commercial vehicle industry. All will report to CEO Rick Dauch.
Scott Hazlett was promoted to president of the Accuride Wheels division, whose products include hub- and stud-piloted, tubeless and tube-type forged aluminum and steel wheels, plus rims and other products.
Gregory Risch was promoted to president of the Gunite unit, which makes brake drums, disc wheel hubs, spoke wheels and rotors, as well as slack adjusters.
Also, Michael Hajost will join Accuride on Nov. 30 as chief financial officer.
“Promoting Scott and Greg to lead our global Wheels and Gunite businesses, respectively, and adding Mike Hajost to the Accuride leadership team as CFO advances our vision to become the premier supplier of wheel-end solutions to the global commercial vehicle industry,” Dauch said in a statement.
The Evansville, Indiana-based company recently acquired a 70% stake in Italian steel-wheel manufacturer Gianetti Ruote S.r.l., in partnership with CLN S.p.A., which has a 30% stake, as the first step in the company’s strategic expansion.
Most recently, Hazlett was senior vice president of operations. He led the operational restructuring and upgrade of the Gunite business, and the expansion of capacity and capability of Accuride’s steel- and aluminum-wheel business in North America.
Risch has served as CFO since October 2011 and is a 21-year veteran of Accuride. He will remain CFO until Hajost arrives.
Hajost, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, most recently was vice president of treasury and investor relations at Carpenter Technology Corp., an international alloys and engineered-products manufacturer in Reading, Pennsylvania, with revenues of $2.3 billion.
Accuride’s products include commercial vehicle wheels, wheel-end components and assemblies, and specialty cast-iron components for a range of agricultural, construction and mining, and oil and gas equipment applications.
