Leaders Look Into Southeast's Role in Global Industry, Announces Automotive News
20 March 1998
Leaders Look Into Southeast's Role in Global Industry, Announces Automotive News
NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 20 -- More than a dozen top
automotive leaders will explore the importance of the American Southeast on
April 26-28 at the Automotive News Southeast Conference here.
The speakers on Monday morning, April 27, are:
-- Andreas Renschler, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S.
International Inc. in Alabama.
-- Don Hudler, chairman, president and CE0 of Saturn Corp.
-- Yale Gieszl, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
-- Warren Neel, dean of the College of Business Administration at the
University of Tennessee
They and other top executives will explore the theme "A Regional
Manufacturing Center Tied to a Global Industry." The conference will be held
at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel in Nashville.
All of the speakers played pivotal roles in the transition of the region
into an international leader in the world's industry.
In March 1992, then 34-year-old Renschler spearheaded a project to
evaluate the feasibility of Mercedes-Benz building a sport-utility outside
Germany. That evaluation resulted in one of the most daring ventures in the
company's 110-year history. One year later, Renschler was named president and
CEO of that venture, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, which produces the
M-class sport-utility.
As part of the restructuring of Daimler-Benz Group, Renschler was
appointed a director of Daimler-Benz AG effective May 1, 1997. He joined the
company in January 1988.
Hudler, who began his General Motors career in 1956, helped Saturn
establish the industry standard for marketing and customer relations. He has
been Saturn chairman since April 1997 and president since August 1995. He
joined Saturn as vice president of sales, service and marketing in February
1987.
Gieszl is responsible for all of Toyota Motor Sales' operations. Since
1992, he has led the company's steady growth. He played a key role in the
introduction of new models like the Avalon, Tacoma, RAV4 and LX 450 that have
helped make the Toyota and Lexus franchises among the strongest in the
industry.
Under his watch, Toyota has steadily increased its North American
production, with the Camry, Sienna, Avalon, Tacoma and Corolla all built here
and the Solara and T100 coming soon. The Georgetown, Ky., plant is the first
U.S. plant to build a sedan and a minivan on the same assembly line. His
leadership has helped Toyota and Lexus dealers achieve total vehicle sales of
more than one million during each year of his tenure, making Toyota America's
fourth-largest auto company. Gieszl has been with the company 27 years.
Neel served in former Gov. Lamar Alexander's cabinet and helped develop
the plan for Tennessee to take advantage of Saturn's decision to locate its
plant in Spring Hill.
He began his career teaching math in a rural high school in Mississippi.
He joined the University of Tennessee's faculty in 1969. He has been dean of
the College of Business Administration since July 1977.
Automotive News, based in Detroit, is the weekly newspaper of the auto
industry. It covers and is read by automakers, their original-equipment
suppliers and franchised dealers.
The Automotive News Southeast Conference is co-sponsored by Deloitte &
Touche Consulting Group and Deloitte & Touche LLP. For information or to
register, visit the web site at http://www.ips.utk.edu/ansc or call 800-424-3905.
SOURCE Automotive News