Finning Names New Leaders in Canada, U.K. and Ireland; Villegas Retires
Finning International announced that Juan Carlos Villegas, president of Finning Canada and chief operating officer of Finning International, will retire at the end of this year after a long career with Finning. Kevin Parkes, currently managing director of Finning UK and Ireland, will take over the role of president of Finning Canada. And assuming the role of managing director of Finning UK and Ireland will be David Primrose, currently Finning Canada’s executive vice president of core industries.
Parkes and Primrose will assume their new positions Jan. 1 and will report to Finning International’s president and CEO Scott Thomson.
Villegas was named president of Finning Canada in 2013, after having served as chief operating officer of 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.
“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,” said Thomson. “His passion and commitment to our customers, employees and partner Caterpillar was evident in his ability to execute his compelling vision.”
Parkes joined Finning in the U.K. in 1996 and has held a variety of positions in the equipment solutions division. From 2010 to 2015, Parkes was CEO of Hewden, a U.K. rental company following Finning’s divestiture of that business. Parkes returned to Finning in 2015 to take on the role of director, equipment solitions and was named managing director of U.K. and Ireland in Feb. 2016.
“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 U.K. and Ireland operations have made him well-suited to build on the momentum we have in our Canadian business,” said Thomson.
Primrose has 30 years of experience with the company. He started in Finning Canada and held several management roles before becoming divisional director, power systems for Finning UK. Primrose then returned to Finning Canada as vice president human resources, then was Finning International’s senior vice president of human resources. In 2009, he was appointed executive vice president, mining, for Finning Canada and in 2014 was named executive vice president, core industries.
“David will seamlessly take the helm in the U.K. and Ireland given his prior experience in the region, solid leadership skills, great relationship with Caterpillar and deep understanding of our digital vision for our European business,” said Thomson.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.