Finning’s Villegas to retire

Finning has announced that the president of its Canadian operations Juan Carlos Villegas is to retire on 31 December this year, with Kevin Parkes taking over the role.

Villegas was appointed president of Finning Canada in 2013. Prior to that appointment, over the course of his 20-year career at Finning, Villegas served as chief operating officer for Finning International, president of Finning South America, vice president of Power Systems for Canada, vice president of Mining for South America and vice president of operations for Chile.

Scott Thomson, president and CEO of Finning, said, “Juan Carlos has been an integral part of Finning’s executive team and has created an extraordinary legacy for us in the work he did to rejuvenate the Canadian operations and grow our South American business.

“His passion and commitment to our customers, employees and partner Caterpillar was evident in his ability to execute his compelling vision. We are very grateful to Juan Carlos and wish him the very best.”

Stepping in to his role, Parkes is the former CEO of Hewden, and had worked for Finning prior to that role. He returned to the company in 2015 to take on the role of director, equipment solutions and was appointed managing director of UK and Ireland in February 2016.

Thomas added, “We are excited to welcome Kevin to his new role as president of Canadian operations, as his blend of Finning and external experience, strong customer focus, and successful track record in restructuring our UK and Ireland operations have made him well suited to build on the momentum we have in our Canadian business.”

Replacing Parkes as managing director of Finning UK will be David Primrose, currently Finning Canada’s executive vice president of core industries.

Thomson said, “David will seamlessly take the helm in the UK and Ireland given his prior experience in region, solid leadership skills, great relationship with Caterpillar and deep understanding of our digital vision for our European business.

“With these senior leaders assuming their new roles, we are assured our executive will continue to lead the company to deliver exceptional service and results for our customers and partners.”