Management team (L-R) Wood, Matsuoka, Cseresznyak, Rains

Toyota Material Handling USA Inc (TMHU) appointed Brett Wood as president and named six other executives and managers to key positions.

The changes aim to strengthen the management depth and business reach for the largest US forklift supplier, according to the company.
As president, Wood, 45, succeeds Dr Shankar Basu, 61, who continues as chief executive officer and adds a new position, chairman of the THMU board. Tatsuo Matsuura, Susumu "Sonny" Toyoda and Hitoshi Matsuoka are board members in addition to Basu and Wood.

"Wood brings a unique mix of hands-on experience across many facets of our business," Basu says in a statement. "I look forward to working hand-in-hand with him to lead TMHU into the future." Wood reports to Basu.

Prior to his 22 September promotion, Wood was TMHU vice president of marketing, product and strategic planning and training operations, and previously handled dealer development.

Wood worked in engineering positions with IBM Corp and Northrop Corp's aerospace business prior to joining Toyota in 1989. At Northrop, he was honoured as engineer of the year. His positions at TMHU have included market application engineer, senior product planning engineer, technical services manager, electric product planning manager, sales training manager and product planning manager.

With the Washington, DC-based Industrial Truck Association (ITA), Wood is a member of the advisory committee and served recently as chairman of the group's general engineering committee.

Basu joined the Toyota organisation in Torrance, California as national marketing manager for industrial trucks in 1981. His other Toyota positions included assistant general manager, general manager and group vice president prior to his appointment in 2001 as president and CEO of TMHU.

Other management changes involve HitosHi Matsuoka, Alan Cseresznyak, Terry Rains, Adam Hughes, John Schmitt and Payman Shabbak. All operate from the Irvine location.

Matsuoka was promoted to executive vice president of treasury, co-ordination and strategic planning with responsibility to oversee all financial aspects of the company. He formerly served as vice president and treasurer overseeing the financial operations and integrating TMHU's sales, marketing and overall business strategy with Toyota's global operations. He has been with Toyota for more than 18 years.

Cseresznyak was promoted to senior vice president of administration in charge of finance, information technology, human resources, distribution and affiliated companies. Previously, he was vice president of finance, information technology and distribution. Cseresznyak is a certified public accountant and has been with Toyota since 1990.

Rains was promoted to vice president of aftermarket sales in charge of parts, service and customer satisfaction. Previously, he was national manager for parts, service and customer satisfaction and, earlier, held several managerial positions. He joined Toyota more than 10 years ago.

Hughes was promoted to national account sales manager. He was national dealer sales manager and has held positions in sales, product and marketing during his career in the material handling industry.

Schmitt was promoted to national dealer sales manager. Formerly, he was national accounts sales manager. He has been a Toyota associate for 16 years and has held many positions in sales and national accounts.

Shabbak was named national strategic planning manager. He joined the business five years ago, oversees long-term and short-term planning, economic forecasting, and strategic initiatives and communication with the ITA. He is a member of the ITA statistics subcommittee.

TMHU employs nearly 200 persons at its Irvine headquarters, national customer centre in Columbus, Indiana and various US field-service locations. TMHU distributes lift trucks under the Toyota brand and aerial work platforms under the Aichi brand. The production entity, Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) employs about 900 in Columbus and makes most of the Toyota lift trucks that are sold in the US.