SAINTE-CLAIRE, QUEBEC - The board of directors of Prevost Car Inc. is realigning the top management of Prevost and its Nova Bus subsidiary, following the announcement that Georges Bourelle is retiring as president of both Prevost and Nova Bus.
Bourelle, who has headed Prevost Car for the past eight years and been CEO of Nova Bus for nearly two years, is relinquishing his executive duties effective Dec. 31, and retiring from the company March 31.
Succeeding Bourelle as president of Prevost is Gaetan Bolduc, the long-time head of Prevost manufacturing operations. And replacing Bourelle as president of Nova Bus is Gilles Dion, vice president of parts and service and Prevost's U.S. subsidiary.
A Prevost employee for 22 years, Bolduc moves from executive vice president to the top job at North America's No. 2 coach builder. Dion, who has been with the company for 29 years, will continue as vice president of the aftermarket divisions of both companies.
Under the realignment, both Bolduc and Dion will report directly to the Prevost board. Bourelle will be available to advise the pair during the first quarter of 2004.
The appointments of Bolduc and Dion were announced by Prevost board Chairman Robert Wood, Vice Chairman Tore Bäckström and Vice Chairman Allan Welsh. "The board is pleased to announce these new promotions and extends to Mr. Bourelle its best wishes for the future. Mr. Bolduc and Mr. Dion . . . will surely meet the new challenges set before us with energy and determination," Wood, Bäckström and Welsh said in a joint statement.
Prevost is owned by Henlys Group plc, the largest bus manufacturer in North America, and Volvo Bus, the second-largest manufacturer of large buses and coaches in the world. Wood is chairman and Welsh is CEO of Henlys, which owns Blue Bird Corp., in addition to controlling Prevost and Nova Bus.
Bourelle's announcement that he intended to retire caught many Prevost employees by surprise. He has headed the company through the best of times - the boom years of the late 1990s, and the worst - the past three years. The industry slowdown has forced Prevost to reduce its work force by 500 since 2000, and at one point it put many of its employees on a three-day workweek.
Bourelle has been quoted as saying he doesn't expect a big recovery in coach demand until next year.
Bourelle has been active in the industry, sitting on the boards of Trailways Transportation System, the American Bus Association and Buses International Association.