Renault-Nissan BV (RNBV) has appointed Arnaud Deboeuf as the Alliance's senior vice-president, RNBV and Alliance CEO Office with effect from April 1. He replaces Christian Mardrus. Deboeuf, 47, will report directly to the Renault-Nissan Alliance chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn.

Mardrus will become senior vice-president and chairman of the management committee for Africa, Middle East and India, Nissan Motor Co.

Deboeuf will serve as secretary of the Renault-Nissan BV board and oversee the ongoing evolution of the Alliance, which was created in 1999. The Alliance Board includes four senior executives from Renault and four senior executives from Nissan.

Deboeuf will join the Alliance Management Committee, which was created in April 2014 to manage the convergence of four major Renault and Nissan functions: Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management, Purchasing and Human Resources. He will also be responsible for the dedicated Alliance Global Executive Team within RNBV in charge of accelerating synergies and best-practice sharing in other functions. The RNBV team has been in place since 2009 and is focused on eight areas today, including product planning, A-segment development, IS/IT, customs and trade, and cooperation with Daimler AG.

Deboeuf, a French national, joined Renault in 1993 as an engineer in the Process Engineering Department and later worked in the manufacturing department. From 2004 to 2007, he was head of Purchasing Strategy and Cost Control at Renault Samsung Motors in South Korea. Upon his return to France in 2007, he was appointed deputy program director for Renault’s Entry Range. In 2010, he joined the Alliance in charge of the Common Module Family (CMF)-A project. In 2012, he was promoted to program director of Renault’s entry range.