Mark Stewart: New North American COO
DETROIT – After almost a decade of development and renewal of its leadership team internally, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has hired a few outsiders, including a senior Amazon manager, for leadership positions in the most profitable region, North America.
Mike Manley, CEO of FCA, named Mark Stewart the new COO in the region, a position held early this year by CEO Sergio Marchionne before his death in July and subsequently by Manley.
Stewart, 51, spent a little more than a year at Amazon, where he was vice president of operations and managed client fulfillment at 200 locations with 180,000 employees, Manley said in an e-mail from employees who publicly revealed FCA on Thursday.
Stewart, an electrical engineer with a background, was COO for car supplier ZF TRW after he had risen through the leading ranks of TRW. FCA said that Stewart would also become a member of the Group Executive Council of the automaker, the highest management decision-making body.
Niel Golightly: New global Chief Communications Officer
Manley also named Niel Golightly the global chief communications officer of the company. Golightly, 60, was vice president of external relations for North and South America for Shell Oil Co. He previously held other communication roles for Royal Dutch Shell and Ford Motor Co., where he was vice president of public affairs for Ford Europe. FCA said that Golightly will also join the Group Executive Council.
Golightly will replace Mike Keegan, who will now be FCA's Chief Audit, Sustainability and Compliance Officer, replacing Alessandro Baldi, who will retire in the first quarter of 2019.
All executive movements are effective immediately.