MCI Names New President, Head of Merged Parts Business

DES PLAINES,Ill. – Ian Smart has been named president of Motor Coach Industries.

In addition, Brian Dewsnup has been named president of the parts business for both MCI and its parent company, New Flyer Industries.

Smart, who previously served as executive vice president, aftermarket, for New Flyer, takes over as MCI president from Paul Soubry, who has served as president and CEO of both New Flyer and MCI since the companies merged in late 2015.

Soubry remains president and CEO of New Flyer.

Smart joined New Flyer in 2011 from StandardAero, one of the largest independent aviation repair and overhaul companies in the world, where he held such positions as vice president of corporate strategy, vice president of marketing and business development, and vice president of StandardAero’s largest business unit.

He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and was the project leader of the privatization and LEAN implementation at a U.S. Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

New Flyer and MCI also announced the combination of their aftermarket parts businesses under Dewsnup in Louisville, Ky. He had been vice president and general manager of the MCI aftermarket business.

Dewsnup previously served as chief financial officer at North American Bus Industries, which was acquired by New Flyer in 2013. Prior to that he was controller of Johns Manville’s Waterville operations and held various finance positions at Ford Motor Co. and Visteon Corp.

He has an MBA in finance, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

“We’ve accomplished what we set out to do for 2016,” Soubry said in announcing the changes. “We took a year to evaluate and understand the strengths of MCI and to develop our growth plan for 2017 and beyond.”

The next step, Soubry said, is to “judiciously align our organizational structure and capital deployment plans to create the best environment for customer support, enhanced competitiveness and growth. Ian and Brian have the backgrounds to take MCI and the aftermarket parts businesses to the next level.”

To build MCI’s customer focus, Smart will be responsible for all aspects of motorcoach design, engineering, purchasing, sales and marketing, production and operations, including the direction of service and support.

Formerly managed within the MCI aftermarket business, the six MCI service centers, field service teams, warranty and the technical call center (which assists operators, technicians and drivers around the clock) will now be managed by the original equipment manufacturer side of MCI.

“The change in customer and field support reporting has been very successful at New Flyer, so going forward the OEM team at MCI will own the support and reliability of what they design and build,” Soubry said. In a related move, MCI and New Flyer aftermarket parts, training and publications are combining into one business.

In a related move, MCI and New Flyer aftermarket parts, training and publications are combining into one business.

“The move makes us the largest bus and motorcoach parts supplier in North America so we can work to a common platform and improve our inventory utilization and delivery performance,” Soubry said.

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