Wood to Lead Toyota Material Handling

Sept. 1, 2008
IRVINE, Calif.Brett Wood is taking the helm at Toyota Material Handling USA Inc. (TMHU) as president, effective immediately. Outgoing president Shankar

IRVINE, Calif.—Brett Wood is taking the helm at Toyota Material Handling USA Inc. (TMHU) as president, effective immediately.

Outgoing president Shankar Basu will continue to serve as chairman and CEO and remains on the boards of TMHU and Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM). Wood will serve on the TMHU board, as well.

Wood was the company’s vice president of marketing, product and strategic planning and training operations and oversaw dealer development. He has been influential in identifying the trends and requirements of the material handling industry and developing Toyota products and corporate strategies that meet U.S. lift truck users’ needs, according to TMHU.

Since joining TMHU in 1989, Wood has held numerous managerial and technical support positions, including market application engineer, senior product planning engineer, technical services manager, electric product planning manager, sales training manager and product planning manager.

Prior to joining Toyota, Wood held engineering positions with IBM Corp. and Northrop Aerospace, where he earned the prestigious recognition "Engineer of the Year."

He recently served as the chairman of the General Engineering Committee for the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) and is now a member of the advisory committee for that same group. Wood is currently a member of the Electric Power Research Institute’s Industry Advisory Council.

Wood has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He also is president of the Coast Soccer League, and he and his wife, Jamie, reside in Manhattan Beach, Calif., with their daughter, Madison.

“Brett Wood brings a unique mix of hands-on experience across many facets of our business, including dealer relations, product development, strategic planning and marketing,” says Basu. “His loyal devotion to Toyota and deep expertise in the lift truck market make him the ideal candidate for the job. I look forward to working hand in hand with him to lead TMHU into the future.”

Following Wood’s appointment, TMHU also named Hitoshi Matsuoka as executive vice president of treasury, coordination and strategic planning; Alan Cseresznyak as senior vice president of administration in charge of finance, information technology, human resources, distribution and affiliated companies; Terry Rains as vice president of aftermarket sales in charge of parts, service and customer satisfaction; Adam Hughes as national account sales manager; John Schmitt as national dealer sales manager; and Payman Shabbak as national strategic planning manager.