RVBusiness, January/February 2021

PEOPLEon theMove La Mesa RV Center headquartered in San Diego Calif announced on Dec 4 the promotion of Jason Kimbrell to the role of CEO for the corporation Kimbrell most recently held the position of president with the company a role that is now filled by Bob Upton Also as part of these recent changes Jim Kimbrell founder of La Mesa RV continues in the post hes held the last two plus years as executive chairman of the board Jason Kimbrell grew up in the RV business starting by pushing a broom at an early age at the original RV dealership located in La Mesa Calif Over the course of the next few decades he has held a variety of positions within the La Mesa RV organization including salesperson finance manager sales manager general sales manager and new inventory manager Founded in 1972 in a suburb of San Diego today the company counts 10 locations including San Diego and West Sacramento Calif Quartzsite Phoenix Mesa and Tucson Ariz Albuquerque N M and Sanford Port Saint Lucie and Fort Myers Fla Elkhart Ind based Truma North America has announced the appointment of Dave Ricks as its new head of sales and service according to a press release from the company Trumas sales and service network is growing rapidly as OEMs continue to integrate Truma systems into their RVs providing a premium experience to their customers Ricks will lead the team in strategic sales planning personnel development call center and service technician management locally and remotely across America Ranger Distribution Inc Elkhart Ind announced Dec 1 that Adam Routh has joined the company adding one of the top sales and service representatives in the industry to RDIs veteran team Routh has been in the RV manufacturing industry for over 22 years Starting at Four Seasons Housing in 1998 working on the line he moved to customer service at Dutchmen RV manufacturing in 2001 Routh also gained significant experience in the warranty department where he received a Master Certification from RV Industry Association RVIA He then worked in purchasing at Dave Carter and Associates from 2012 until 2017 when he moved into the sales department where he has been a top producer ever since Elkhart Ind based Patrick Industries Inc announced Nov 24 in a press release that it has appointed Jake Petkovich as executive vice president of finance chief financial officer and treasurer Prior to joining Patrick Petkovich served as managing director in the Leveraged Finance Group of Wells Fargo Securities and predecessor Wachovia Securities from 2004 to 2020 performing in various senior leadership roles responsible for leading underwriting structuring and arranging financing solutions to support issuers access to the capital markets for acquisition financings recapitalizations refinancings and restructurings Laura Stewart has been appointed as student advisor at the National RV Training Academy NRVTA outside Dallas Texas A native of Louisiana and a half time RVer herself Stewart will serve as the first point of contact at the Big Red Schoolhouse for people looking for information about taking classes to become NRVTA Registered or Certified RV or Technicians as well as inspectors certified by the National RV Inspectors Association NRVIA Holland Mich based Volta Power Systems has appointed Dave DeGraaf as its new CEO as part of the expansion of its leadership structure With over 20 years of leadership experience in technology and the advanced energy industry DeGraaf is uniquely positioned to lead the company into its next phase of growth in new and international markets Jack Johnson who has led since the companys inception will take on the role of chief technology officer to focus on customer relationships product strategy value creation and marketing Priority One Financial Services promoted Markle Janner to operations manager where he will work in partnership with Senior Operations Manager Rina Aponte to ensure dealers continue to see more approved applications more deliveries and more profit for long term success the company stated in a release Bloomington Minn based KING a leading manufacturer of mobile satellite Wi Fi cellular and digital TV antenna products for the RV and outdoor adventure markets has added Erin Clark to its Kimbrell Ricks Routh Stewart DeGraaf sales team in the role of Regional Sales Manager Aftermarket Way Interglobal LLC Elkhart Ind has hired veteran finance leader Stuart Blackburn as its vice president of finance to implement and lead new processes for the growing organization Blackburn most recently served as director of manufacturing finance with the Blackburn Kraft Heinz Company for over a decade Delva Plumb has joined the sales team at RVLI LLC as regional sales manager for the Southwest United States Based in the Phoenix metro area Plumb will be responsible for dealer sales support in Arizona New Mexico California Nevada Utah and Colorado Plumb Prior to joining RVLI Plumb worked at Aim Wholesales as an inside sales associate Hitch RV which has four locations in Pennsylvania New Jersey Delaware and South Carolina announced the appointment of Tim Hopkins as general sales manager for Hitch RV of Columbia S C and Gary Hosking as general sales manager for Hitch RV of Milford Del Peterson Manufacturing a world leading innovator in the engineering and production of a complete line of vehicle safety lighting custom wiring harnesses and many other safety related products named Jeff Geoffroy as Director of Marketing and Business Development Geoffroy the company announced In his new role Geoffroy will be responsible for increasing brand awareness expanding customer engagement as well as leading all go to market activities according to a release The Shyft Group Inc parent company of Spartan Chassis announced on Dec 1 that Michael Dinkins has been appointed to the companys board of directors and its audit committee Dinkins was also appointed to the Boards Audit Committee Dinkins brings nearly three decades of executive financial experience serving Dinkins as chief financial officer and chief executive officer at a number of publicly traded companies and he currently serves as president and chief executive officer of Dinkins Financial which assists private equity firms in building portfolios through acquisitions RVB J A N U A R Y F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 RVBusiness 95