Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has gone outside the company to find someone to run its operations in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
The automaker announced in a media release Thursday that it has named Mark Stewart as its new chief operating officer for the North American region, effective immediately. Stewart was most recently a vice-president at Amazon. The move was announced in an email to company employees.
Englishman Michael Manley, who was named CEO of FCA following the sudden illness and death of Sergio Marchionne, had been overseeing the North American operations in the interim.
Stewart had been the vice-president of operations at Amazon, where he was responsible for customer fulfillment across 200 facilities with over 180,000 employees. According to the media release, Stewart has had expertise in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence. He is also not a newcomer to the auto industry, having worked as the chief operating officer for auto supplier ZF TRW, which has a presence in Windsor.
This is one of several executive changes being made at FCA that had been in the works for several months. The automaker has also named Niel Golightly as its new chief global communications officer, and Mike Keegan as the new chief audit, sustainability, and compliance officer.
FCA has a total of 44 facilities across North America, including the Windsor Assembly Plant.