PLYMOUTH, Mich. (July 16, 2010)—Freudenberg-NOK G.P. has changed its leadership structure, appointing four senior executives to head the company in place of its president and CEO position, the company announced.
The new team—comprising the newly created Office of the Chief Executive—consists of Ralf Krieger, speaker and senior vice president of finance and administration; Brad Norton, senior vice president of sales and marketing; Michael Heidingsfelder, senior vice president of operations; and Yoshindo Masumoto, senior vice president of quality and technology.
The Office of the Chief Executive was implemented to replace the president and CEO position, most recently held by Mohsen Sohi, who became a managing partner at parent Freudenberg & Co. in Germany earlier this spring. Sohi, who joined Freudenberg-NOK—a joint venture of Freudenberg and Japan's NOK Corp.—will be responsible for the German company's global portfolio of sealing businesses.
"The Office of the Chief Executive, although not a common management structure in North America, strengthens and perpetuates the partnership culture upon which Freudenberg-NOK was built," Sohi said. "It was created to leverage a diverse group of expertise and leadership capabilities. The team is focused on positioning the company for new market growth while bringing increased integration and value across our business units."
Krieger, previously Freudenberg-NOK's chief financial officer, will continue to have primary responsibility for finance, mergers and acquisitions, and information technology. He also assumed additional responsibilities for human resources, communications and legal. Norton, who previously served as the company's president of automotive sales and its Corteco division, will lead the sales and marketing efforts of the organization and chair the boards of operations in Mexico and Brazil.
Heidingsfelder, previously the general manager of the gaskets and trading division, will have direct responsibility for manufacturing operations. Masumoto who was a senior manager for NOK, is relocating from Japan and will assume full responsibility for the quality and technology position in October.