27.03.2003

Manitowoc appoints outsider to top sales post

Frans Vanwinkel, a senior executive with truck manufacturer Iveco, has been appointed to run the Manitowoc Crane group's sales and marketing operation in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The decision to appoint somebody from outside the crane industry was taken at the highest levels and has caused some surprise.

"I have pleasure in announcing the appointment of Frans Vanwinkel to the post of Sales and Marketing Vice President of Manitowoc Crane Group EMEA with effect from Tuesday 1st April next" says Jean-Yves Bouffault, boss of the Manitowoc Crane group in Europe.

Frans Vanwinkel will be a member of the executive Board (Comex) and will chair the commercial board of MCG EMEA.

With effect from 1 April, the following senior members of Manitowoc staff will report directly to Frans Vanwinkel:

- Mike Lamb for the Northern Europe zone
- Gilles Marchand for the France-Africa zone
-Diego Borgna for the Southern Europe zone
- Manuel Cordeiro for the Iberian zone
- Willem Hilderink for crawler sales – EMEA region
- Manuel Meurant for Marketing
- David Semple and Hamid Summers for the Middle Eastern zone
- Gérard Vézant for special application cranes
- Manager of the Russia-CIS zone – recruitment in process
- Manager of used cranes – recruitment in process

Frans Vanwinkel is 47 years old, Belgian by birth, and married with one child. He is a graduate in Economics and Social Science from Louvain University (Belgium).

Starting in 1981, the early years of Frans’ career were spent carrying out different functions in human resources, initially with Bell Telephone (ITT group) and then, from 1986, with Scott Continental (paper industry group). He joined the Iveco group in 1990 as human resources manager for the Benelux Countries, and from 1993 took operational responsibility with control of Iveco branches, initially in the Benelux region, and then over the whole of northern Europe from 1996 onwards. Since 2001, still with Iveco but based in Turin, Frans has held the position of worldwide commercial director for the heavy vehicle range in direct sales (trucks exceeding 16 tonnes).