Executive Vice President of Sales Operations
Volvo Cars of North America
Anastasios (Tassos) Panas is Executive Vice President of Sales Operations for Volvo Cars of North America (VCNA). In this role he is responsible for overseeing all regional operations in the United States, variable marketing, fleet, network and distribution. Panas serves as a member of Volvo's executive committee and reports directly to Doug Speck, President and CEO.
Prior to his current position, Panas was VCNA's Regional Vice President for the Northeast Region. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the business including sales, service and parts for Volvo's largest-volume region in the United States. During his tenure, the Northeast Region outperformed in all key metrics of the business and placed the region as the fourth-largest Volvo market in the world, following Germany.
Previously, Panas served as Vice President for Network Development and Franchise Operations for Aston Martin Jaguar Land Rover and helped pioneer the multi-franchise facility concept so prevalent in today's automotive retail arena. Beginning in 2000, Panas headed up the sales, service and parts operation for Jaguar and Land Rover in the Southern Region of the United States, responsible for two distinct field organizations - one supporting the Jaguar business and the other Land Rover.
Earlier, Panas served as the Remarketing Programs and Strategy Manager and was a lead player in the development of the IntelliChoice award-winning Jaguar Select Edition Pre-Owned Program. He also led Jaguar's owner loyalty and customer satisfaction efforts in the mid-1990s.
Panas joined Ford Motor Company of Australia in 1989 as a graduate trainee and worked in all areas of the company's sales and marketing organization prior to being transferred to Jaguar Cars North America in 1993. He progressed through a number of significant management positions with Jaguar and Land Rover before moving to VCNA in 2005.
An Australian native of Greek immigrant parents, Panas holds a mechanical engineering degree with honors from the University of Melbourne. He earned an MBA from the University of Melbourne's Melbourne Business School.
