Volvo Cars of North America Appoints Anastasios Panas
Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing
Irvine, Calif. (April 11, 2008) - Volvo Cars of North America, LLC, (VCNA) has promoted Anastasios (Tassos) Panas to Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, reporting to Doug Speck, who recently became President and CEO. Panas' promotion was effective April 1, 2008. In this position he will be responsible for overseeing Volvo's regions, retail operations, variable marketing and marketing communications
Previously Panas was Regional Vice President for Volvo Cars in 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.
Prior to coming to Volvo, 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. In 2000 he managed the sales, service and parts operations for Jaguar and Land Rover in the Southern Region of the United States responsible for two distinct field organizations.
Panas joined Ford Motor Company of Australia in 1989 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 before moving to Volvo in 2005.
"Tassos brings to his new role a diverse background with the experience and leadership competencies needed to take the business to the next level," said Doug Speck, President and CEO, Volvo Cars of North America.
Panas holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree with Honors from the University of Melbourne, Australia and an MBA from the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, Australia.
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About Volvo Cars
Volvo Cars of North America, LLC (VCNA), based in Irvine, Calif., is a subsidiary of Volvo Car Corp. of Göteborg, Sweden. VCNA provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States, and oversees Volvo operations in Canada and Mexico. To see more: http://www.volvocars-pr.com/
Contacts: Geno Effler
Vice President, Public Affairs
Volvo Cars of North America
949-341-6715 geffler@volvocars.com
Pam Edwards
Corporate Communications Manager
Volvo Cars of North America
949-341-6712 pedwar56@volvocars.com
