PEOPLE

DES PLAINES, Ill. — Motor Coach Industries has added two experienced sales executives in its Southwest and Midwest regions.

Shane Shipman

Shane Shipman joined MCI as new coach sales vice president for the Southeast, responsible for MCI customers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

He takes over the territory from Brian Lichter, who returned to MCI pre-owned coach sales representative for the Midwest.

Shipman has a 21-year career in motorcoach operations, including general manager positions with two major motorcoach operators based in Atlanta and as director of megabus.com Southeast. He also was director of charter sales and operations for Coach America.

Shipman is related to the founders of Southeastern Stages in Atlanta, and he joined the company shortly after graduating with an economics degree from Georgia State University, moving up through the ranks, starting in ticketing, accounting and sales and eventually becoming director of charters.

“I’ve gone full-circle in my career and in this new sales role, I’ll bring a personal touch because I know what it means to sit on the operator’s side of the table,” Shipman said.

 

Brian Lichter

With the return of Lichter to pre-owned coach sales, MCI is expanding in the Midwest by dividing the territory into two separate regions. Lichter will be responsible for customers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Lichter first worked for MCI between 1996 and 2004 as a pre-owned sales representative at the company’s Sales and Service Center in Des Plaines. He returned to MCI in 2011 as a regional vice president of new coach sales for the Southeast.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity of getting reacquainted with customers I’ve known,” Lichter said.

 

YORK, Pa. – Reed Hooks has joined bus air conditioning company American Cooling Technology as a regional sales manager.

Reed Hooks

Hooks is based in Arizona and is assigned to the Western territory. He focuses on new accounts and servicing existing accounts in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.

He has more than 20 years of sales and service experience in the bus transportation industry, most recently at SBL as a sales and operation manager, and in various roles at Thermo King and Pierce Transit. Hooks has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

“With his extensive technical knowledge, operations and fleet maintenance bus background coupled with his industry knowledge and experience, ACT is very fortunate to have Reed join ACT to expand our HVAC application and customer support capabilities,” said ACT President Dave Oberdorff.

 

NEW YORK City – Former United Motorcoach Association President and CEO Victor S. Parra has joined the board of directors of Rally Bus.

Victor Parra

Parra, 68, retired from UMA on March 31 after spending nearly 19 years with the association.

Rally Bus is a technology platform that aggregates travelers with motorcoach operators to build trips, particularly to activities such as concerts, sporting events and political rallies.

The company said it has booked 602,140 passengers in 3,131 cities since it was founded in 2014.

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