By Adam Coleman
SYDNEY: A week after Sony Australia announced the appointment of Carl Rose as deputy managing director in a newly appointed position, Panasonic Australia has followed suit appointing Steve Rust as deputy managing director, in another newly created role.
Rust will report directly to Panasonic managing director, Toshiro Kisaka and is responsible for overseeing divisional business operations, with Panasonic’s divisional directors reporting directly to him.
“Rust will bring strong distribution, retail and technology experience to Panasonic,” said Kisaka.
“His knowledge and experience will be key in formulating and implementing strategies for taking our range of market leading products to the retail and business channels, in today’s fast-paced environment,” he said.
During his 25 years in the industry, Rust has held a number of senior executive roles in global IT and telecommunications subsidiaries. Rust was most recently managing director of Ingram Micro Australia, and has also held senior management roles at Nortel Networks, Apple and Toshiba.
In another significant move, Panasonic has promoted its consumer electronics group national sales manager, Paul Reid to the position of director. In this role he will be responsible for overseeing all divisional marketing and sales operations.