Collins and Aikman Appoints New Officials
In this capacity, Preston will have responsibility for overseeing the Company's U.S. and Canadian operations in floor and acoustic systems and other plastic based interior trim systems. Preston will report directly to Thomas E. Evans, Collins & Aikman's Chairman and CEO, and will serve on the Company's strategy board.
Evans stated, "We're extremely pleased to have an executive with the stature, automotive background and operating experience of Frank Preston join our team to head the North American Interior Systems division."
Preston joins Collins & Aikman most recently from Intelligents Consulting, an automotive consulting practice he successfully established in 1998. Previously, Preston was with Lear Corporation, where he served in a number of senior executive positions, the most recent being Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and South American Operations. Preston also served as Group Vice President for Lear's $3 billion Interior Systems Division, where he had responsibility for overseeing Lear's operations in floor and acoustic systems, headliners, door panels, consoles, visor systems, and other plastic based interior trim systems. Prior to his service at Lear Corporation, Preston served as President and CEO of Masland Industries and held a number of senior management positions in the Automotive Interiors Division of Textron Corporation.
Other appointments include that of Steve Jeske has been as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Company's North American Interior Systems division, and Reed White, President of Collins & Aikman's Dura Convertible Systems division, will assume the additional responsibility for managing the Company's consolidated Mexican operations.
Previously, Jeske had been Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Collins & Aikman's Fabric division. Jeske joined Collins & Aikman in 1979 and holds a bachelor's degree in business from Wake Forest University. Evans stated, "Having Jeske in this role highlights our intense focus on advanced selling of our integrated interior systems. Even more importantly, with his strong background in automotive fabrics – the most highly stylized interior surface in a vehicle – Jeske is extremely well qualified to market Collins & Aikman's integrated surface styling capabilities to our customers."
White, in addition to having general management responsibility for the Company's global convertible systems operations, will now have operational responsibility for all of Collins & Aikman's Mexican based manufacturing plants, including convertible systems, carpet and acoustics. Evans commented, "White's a natural to play a larger role at Collins & Aikman. His track record at running our convertible systems business has been superb, and as he consolidates our Mexican administrative and management functions, I'm confident that he'll be able to further enhance the overall efficiency of our operations in this very important region."
Edited by Anndrea Vorobej