By Rip Watson, Senior Reporter This story appears in the Sept. 30 print edition of Transport Topics.
Mack Trucks Inc. last week named Stephen Roy president of North American sales and marketing effective Jan. 1, succeeding Kevin Flaherty, who will retire after 40 years with the company.
Roy currently is senior vice president, parts sales and marketing, for Volvo Trucks North America, which includes sister companies Volvo and Mack.
Flaherty was named to his current post in December 2011.
“With aggressive growth plans in place, and significant investments continuing in our products and industrial system, this is a particularly exciting time for Mack Trucks,” Roy said in a statement. “I look forward to helping our team realize Mack’s full potential in this market.”
Roy will be taking over a company whose Class 8 sales through eight months of 2013 have slipped 17.7%, faster than the overall slide for all truck makers of 11.6% over that period.
Like Flaherty, Roy will report to Dennis Slagle, executive vice president for trucks sales and marketing of the Americas for parent company Volvo Group, the global truck maker.
A day before Roy’s appointment, Volvo Group announced a companywide program, including the North American units, to improve efficiency by cutting management, workers, consultants and production enhancements, mostly in the truck business.
The corporate announcement was separate from the Mack appointment, a spokeswoman said.
Volvo’s initiative is part of a three-year program with estimated restructuring costs of more than $800 million that are expected to generate about $425 million in annual savings, according to the company’s statement.
“This announcement means [Volvo CEO Olof Persson] is serious and making real changes,” David Arnold, an automobile specialist at Barclays Capital in London, said in an e-mail to clients.
Flaherty joined Mack in 1973 in a New York City sales post and rose through the company’s sales and marketing department before taking his current position.
Roy will bring more than 25 years of industry experience that embraces sales, service, financing and telematics in addition to his current post.
He previously was a vice president at Volvo Financial Services, where he helped to create Volvo Group’s captive financing arm in North America. He’s also been vice president of business development and vice president of sales and marketing.
Prior to joining Volvo, he held executive positions at Cargill Leasing Corp. and the company now known as Navistar International Corp.
