Ring Power President and CEO Randal Ringhaver has appointed Alan Thomas as the company's new governmental sales manager to fill the gap left after Clark Ricke's retirement. Thomas began working as a sales trainee for Ring Power in 1987. After spending 12 years working as a heavy equipment sales representative, he was promoted to the position of branch manager. Thomas moved to the company's Ocala, FL, branch to serve as a regional manager in 2004. He will now be relocating to the Tampa area to develop strategies for procuring government business. Ring Power, headquartered in St. Augustine, is the Central and Northeast Florida Caterpillar dealer.
Regulators clear Chrysler sale
Federal antitrust regulators have approved the purchase of the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler by Cerberus Capital Management. The deal will cost Cerberus $7.4 billion. The Federal Trade Commission announced its decision after a 30-day review of the deal and after Chrysler agreed to transfer an 80.1% stake to New York-based Cerberus. Cerberus, in turn, will invest $6.1 billion in Chrysler. Both companies expect to close the deal by the third quarter.
Culp sales go up, losses go down
North Carolina-based mattress company Culp, Inc., has seen marked progress in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year with a sales increase of 3.5% and lower net losses compared to those of the same quarter last year. The company lost only $40,000 in sales during the quarter ending April 29, compared with a loss of $1.5 million during last year's fourth quarter. The loss-per-share rate was close to zero in this year's fourth quarter. Sales for the full fiscal year were down 4% to $250.5 million.
Advantage Sales & Marketing selects StayinFront to handle its SFA needs
Advantage Sales & Marketing, LLC (ASM), based in Irvine, CA, has selected StayinFront Consumer Goods to handle its sales force automation (SFA) requirements. StayinFront's history of delivering successful SFA solutions and market-presence development will help ASM support its current base of field representatives. StayinFront will also broaden ASM's user base. Advantage Sales & Marketing, LLC, a leading sales and marketing agency, specializes in outsourced sales, merchandising, and marketing of consumer-packaged goods. ASM is a leader in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry with 15,000 associates in the U.S. StayinFront, Inc., is a global supplier of customer relationship management (CRM) applications, support solutions, and other e-business services.
Kia appoints new VP of sales
Kia Motors America, Inc., has appointed Tom Loveless as its vice president of sales, effective June 20. Loveless will join Kia after a successful 24-year stint with DaimlerChrysler. He formerly worked for DaimlerChrysler as director of U.S. market volume planning. Prior to that, he served as director of Dodge-brand marketing and communications and held other sales and service positions in the U.S. In his new position, Loveless will report to Len Hunt, executive vice president and chief operational officer of Kia. Kia Motors America offers a full line of vehicles through 630 dealers nationwide. The company is the sales, marketing, and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation, which is based in Seoul, South Korea.
