Nissan North America Inc. (NNA) on October 17 announced that Greg Daniels, senior vice president for U.S. manufacturing, will retire effective December 31. Daniels enjoyed a 26-year career at Nissan, which he started as part of the original Smyrna, Tenn., manufacturing plant launch team. Effective October 20, Susan Brennan will join Nissan from Ford Motor Company as vice president, manufacturing – Smyrna and Decherd.
Daniels has had a leading role in many of Nissan's manufacturing milestones. His achievements include oversight of start-of-production for the Xterra and Pathfinder sport-utility vehicles, support of the Decherd, Tenn., powertrain assembly plant launches and expansions and support for product launches in the Canton, Miss., manufacturing plant. Additionally, he was the driving force behind the 2001 launch of Nissan's world-class manufacturing safety program, Safety One.
Throughout his Nissan tenure, Daniels has actively served the community, holding board positions with the Boys and Girls Club of Rutherford County, Tenn., the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce and the Albany State University Foundation. He has been active with several local leadership programs and charitable organizations.
"Since the very beginning of Nissan's manufacturing history in the United States, Greg has played an integral part in developing and expanding our operations," said Bill Krueger, senior vice president- manufacturing, supply chain management, purchasing, and total customer satisfaction, NNA. "His valuable leadership not only touched Nissan and its employees but also the community, where he dedicated so much of his time. We wish him all the best in his retirement."
Brennan joins Nissan reporting to Krueger and will oversee the operations of Nissan's two Tennessee-based plants. She draws upon 16 years of manufacturing management experience. Most recently, she was director of global manufacturing at Ford, where she led a global business office for Ford's assembly, powertrain and stamping plants. Previously, she worked in corporate and plant-specific manufacturing management jobs at Ford, Visteon and Douglas & Lomason. She holds a master's of business administration degree from the University of Nebraska and a bachelor's of science degree in microbiology from the University of Illinois.
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program 2010, whose key priorities are reducing CO2 emissions, cutting other emissions and increasing recycling.