Appointments: GM’s new Vauxhall supremo; New FD for Norcros; O2 names site head
AUTOMOTIVE giant General Motors has appointed Karl-Friedrich Stracke as chief executive of its Opel/Vauxhall business.
Mr Stracke, 55, succeeds Nick Reilly, who continues as the head of GM’s European operations.
Vauxhall employs around 2,000 people at its factory in Ellesmere Port, which is making the new Astra. It is hoping to secure its long-term future by winning the mandate to manufacture the new electric car, Ampera.
Mr Strack, who has been with General Motors for more than 30 years, will report to Nick Reilly in his new role. He has been in charge of GM’s global vehicle engineering division for the last 18 months and will be based in his native Germany.
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SHOWERS-to-tile maker Norcros has appointed Martin Payne as its new finance director.
Payne has most recently held senior financial positions at JCB and previously at IMI, the FTSE 100 engineering company.
Earlier in his career he spent six years as finance director of H&R Johnson Tiles, a subsidiary of Norcros. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and has an economics degree from Durham University.
He will replace Nick Kelsall who is moving up to the role of chief executive when Joe Matthews steps down on April 1.
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JASON Duffy has been appointed as head of site at mobile phone group O2’s 1,400-strong operation at Preston Brook, Halton.
Mr Duffy, who has worked his way through the ranks with O2 – he started out as a trainee sales advisor at a branch in Southport – replaces Gareth Pickles who has moved to the company’s Leeds operation.
He said: “I started with O2 as a trainee sales advisor and have been learning, developing and progressing in my career over the past 18 years. I’m now in a position where I can pass on my knowledge and experience to other people starting their careers in the same way.”
Mr Duffy is married with three young children and lives in Waterloo, Merseyside.
