Manitowoc restructures Asia-Pacific management

Manitowoc Cranes has appointed Giles Martin, its current executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region, as manager of all countries except China and John Wheeler has been appointed as executive vice president for China.

"Asia-Pacific is diverse and complex, and it is also the world's fastest growing market for crane sales," said Eric Etchart, president of Manitowoc Cranes. "We have decided to increase our senior management resources to give the region the attention it deserves. China is now such an important market for our industry that we feel it needs a dedicated senior executive managing operations. John is a highly experienced leader within our company, and his knowledge and expertise will be invaluable in developing our presence in China.

"Gilles has done a fantastic job in the three years he has worked as EVP of Asia-Pacific. He will now concentrate solely on the diverse and growing markets outside China, where our company has considerable presence and where we anticipate a greater amount of business in the future. Manitowoc will refer to this new region as the Greater Asia-Pacific region."

Wheeler will relocate from the US to Shanghai and will report to Etchart. He will be responsible for leveraging Manitowoc's position in China. Martin will relocate from Shanghai to Singapore and will continue to report to Etchart. Martin will be responsible for growing opportunities in India, Australia and the ASEAN region.