Volvo Bus has announced some key staff changes and appointments which the company explains are aimed at allowing it to ‘focus and adapt to the changing nature of the Australian bus and coach industry’.
Effective from 1st July, Tony Lowrey assumes the role of senior manager, major accounts, with a primary focus on New South Wales and Victoria, and responsible for the management of large operators, including both government and private. He previously had roles as regional service manager, regional sales manager and most recently on the major accounts team previously headed by Robyn Thomson.
“Tony brings a wide experience to his new role having developed skills in the technical service area of our business before moving into sales and most recently major accounts. This broad experience coupled with deep industry understanding will allow Tony to provide an excellent level of support and service to our large customers”, said acting general manager of Volvo Bus Australia, David Mead.
Christina Cortese will assume the role of senior manager, major accounts from the 1st September, with a primary focus on major accounts in Western Australia, South Australia, ACT and Queensland. Christina will also assume the market responsibility for New Zealand working alongside Volvo’s local distributor MTD. Her role will see her responsible for the management of large governmental and private operators.
“Christina’s exposure to a wide range of markets, cultures and business models over the last three years will allow her to bring new perspectives to our Australian team. Her work in the area of product planning, especially related to Electromobility products, will be of enormous value in the city bus segment in Australia”, David Mead said.
In other changes Svetlana Guerin will take over the role of business control and finance having worked with both UD Trucks and the Volvo Real Estate Business Control teams since April 2019. Ali Alali becomes regional service manager for Metro NSW having relocated from Queensland, where he has spent the last two years as RSM for Queensland and the Northern Territory and Kevin Benat takes over the role of RSM for Queensland and the NT from the 1st August, bringing 14 years of mechanic experience in the heavy commercial vehicle trade and experience working in international markets.
Meanwhile David Woodward will take up his role as national competency manager full time, having been appointed on the 1st March. The early part of his tenure was unfortunately disrupted because of the Covid pandemic. His focus will be on NSW Face to Face training, as well as remote training using Volvo Buses new ‘Go To Training Portal’. While his original training calendar was disrupted due to Covid-19, He has instead focused his time on the continued support of Metro Sydney customers and will now broaden his scope to a national level.
