New leadership team for General Motors' Africa operations

A new GM South Africa vice president of operations has been appointed. GM Africa is now strengthened by a new vice president and chief financial officer, vice president - engineering, vice president - human resources, manager of communications, and chief information officer.

GM South Africa vice president of operations

Ian Nicholls has been appointed as GM South Africa vice president of operations and in this new role he will have overall country leadership responsibility for South Africa. This will incorporate responsibility for manufacturing, purchasing, quality, planning, sales and marketing and after sales operations of the company in South Africa.

Nicholls has been with the company since 1990 and during his time has occupied various roles within planning, sales and marketing, materials management and new business development.

Vice president and chief financial officer, GM Africa

Michael Sacke has been appointed as vice president and chief financial officer for GM Africa and in this role he will be responsible for the financial operations of the company on the continent.

Sacke has been with the company since 1997 and during this time has occupied various roles with the company's legal and finance departments.

Vice president - engineering, GM Africa

Wendle Roberts has been appointed as vice president of engineering for GM Africa and is responsible for the company's engineering activities on the continent. A major focus will be ensuring that vehicles are engineered and validated to meet the varying conditions of Africa markets.

Roberts has been with the company for over 34 years and has worked in various areas including product engineering and programme planning and has also worked at Adam Opel as a liaison engineer.

Vice president - human resources, GM Africa

Chris Thexton has been appointed as vice president of human resources for GM Africa and overall assumes responsibility for the company's human resources operations on the continent.

Thexton joined the company as a graduate in training over 23 years ago and has worked in various roles within the human resources department.

Manager of communications, GM Africa

Denise van Huyssteen has been appointed as manager of communications for GM Africa, assuming responsibility for the company's corporate, product and internal communications activities across the continent.

She joined the company's communications department in 2000 and over the past two years has also been responsible for communications for sub-Saharan Africa markets.

Chief information officer, GM Africa

Sean Gaskin has been appointed as chief information officer for GM Africa with responsibility for IT operations of the company's manufacturing and distribution sites on the continent.

He has been with the company for five years and during this time has occupied various roles within the IT department.

Putting growth plans into practice

All the above appointments are effective immediately and will be based at the company's headquarters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. All the positions indicated above also report directly to Mario A. Spangenberg, president and MD of General Motors Africa.

"These changes will position General Motors efforts to drive further efficiencies and to improve the overall effectiveness of our operations in Africa," Spangenberg. "We are moving into the next phase of our growth plans which are geared at growing our sales volumes across the continent."

General Motors has vehicle assembly operations in South Africa, Egypt and Kenya and has over 310 dealer and distributor outlets located across the continent. Last year the company sold over 180,000 vehicles in Africa through its Chevrolet, Isuzu, and Opel brands.

For more information, go to www.gmsa.co.za or www.gm.com.