Akira Shiki will succeed Peter Kruse as president of UniCarriers Americas Corp from 2 May.

UniCarriers Americas announced on 23 April that Kruse will resign for personal reasons. He became president of predecessor firm Nissan Forklift Corp North America in 2009 after five years as chief financial officer.

As part of a Nissan-Hitachi corporate collaboration, Nissan Forklift NA and TCM America merged on 1 August 2012 to form Marengo-based UniCarriers Americas. Further integration steps were disclosed earlier this month.

Kruse comments: "My career at UniCarriers Americas has been both challenging and rewarding. My decision to resign is for personal reasons relating to my family, and I would ask everyone to respect this very difficult decision that I have made."

Kruse joined the company in 2004 as CFO and, over five years, eliminated the company's debt and achieved the highest divisional profit. As president, he leads all aspects of the company with focuses on improving marketshare and cash flow, developing new products and guiding merger efforts.

Currently, Shiki is an officer and general manager of product merchandising for parent UniCarriers Corp of Tokyo.

Shiki was vice president of product engineering for Nissan Forklift NA from 1994-2004. He returned to Nissan Forklift's global headquarters in Japan, serving as general manager of the management and planning department. In 2010, he was promoted to CEO and president of Nissan Forklift Co Ltd and was appointed as chairman of the board of directors of the US subsidiary at that time. When UniCarriers Corp was created in 2012, he accepted his current position. He continues to serve as chairman of UniCarriers Americas Corp.

Shiki says: "I am looking forward to returning to Marengo to lead UniCarriers Americas and re-establish my connection with the passionate employees, dealers, suppliers and end customers that have been the core of this company's success."

UniCarriers Americas executive James J Radous III adds: "This past year has been an exciting one as we transitioned Nissan Forklift and TCM to UniCarriers Americas to create a world-class global brand positioned in the market to be a leader in the materials handling industry. Our fiscal 2012 ended with a strong finish and we are looking forward to our fiscal 2013 to be even more successful. We have a strong leadership team that will make this happen along with our dealer partners. It will be business as usual at UniCarriers Americas."

UniCarriers Americas represents the Nissan Forklift, TCM, Atlet, Barrett and UniCarriers brands and has more than 235 authorised dealerships with more than 350 locations across North, Central and South America.