Nissan makes regional management changes, Gianluca De Ficchy to lead AMIEO region

Nissan Motor Co today announced a realignment of its geographic regional structure along with senior management appointments that will be effective October 1, 2020.

As part of Nissan’s four-year transformation plan, Nissan NEXT, the company aims to transform into a leaner, agile organization focused on achieving sustainable growth. To this end, Nissan is realigning its operations from the current seven regions into four key regions: Japan-ASEAN, China, Americas, and AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe & Oceania). The new structure will enable a heightened focus on core markets and will further empower regional management. This realignment enables Nissan to be more competitive by improving the speed of our operations and help deploy our latest technologies consistently and quickly to customers the world over.

The following senior management changes will be effective October 1, 2020.

Gianluca De Ficchy, currently senior vice-president and chairman of management committee Europe, will expand his role to assume chairmanship of the newly created region of AMIEO, which will cover Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Oceania. De Ficchy will report to vice-chief performance officer and chief quality officer, Christian Vandenhende.

Guillaume Cartier, currently senior vice president and chairman of Africa, Middle East, and India, will become vice chairman and senior vice-president of marketing and sales of the AMIEO region, and will continue to oversee Africa, Middle East, and India as president. He will report to De Ficchy.

A new Americas region will be created to cover both North America and South America.

Jérémie Papin continues as vice chairman of the management committee North America and will oversee the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Jose Roman, currently president and managing director of Nissan Mexico, in addition to his oversight of Nissan Mexico, will also lead the importers business unit (NIBU) for the region. Roman will continue to report to Papin.

Guy Rodriguez, currently chairman of Latin America, will be regional senior vice president of marketing, sales and operations of Nissan South America.

Papin and Rodriguez will report to vice-chief performance officer and chief quality officer, Christian Vandenhende.

ASEAN will be integrated with Japan to form a new region, Japan-ASEAN. Asako Hoshino, executive vice president, will be the new chairwoman of this region.

Yutaka Sanada, currently regional senior vice president and head of Asia & Oceania (A&O) operations, will oversee its transition. His new role will be the subject of a future announcement.

The management committee of China will continue to run with the existing leadership under Chairman Shohei Yamazaki.

Vandenhende, Hoshino and Yamazaki will continue to report to chief operating officer, Ashwani Gupta.

According to Nissan's statement, "These changes represent a positive shift in the way the company operates with better global and regional integration. Under the newly assigned leadership team, Nissan will become more agile, innovative, and nurture a more transparent culture for sustained profitability and growth."