Nissan shakes up senior leadership

Nissan Motors in January announced several leadership changes. [caption id="attachment_58358747" align="alignleft" width="93"] Tiago Castro[/caption] Tiago Castro , a 22-year veteran of the company, was promoted to senior vice president of U.S. marketing and sales for the Nissan and Infiniti brands effective Jan. 9, according to a Jan. 6 release. He succeeds Michael Soutter . His responsibilities include product management, sales, marketing and client experience, [caption id="attachment_58358744" align="alignright" width="106"] Eric Ledieu[/caption] according to the release. For the Nissan brand, he will head U.S. marketing and sales activities and for the Infiniti brand, he will oversee the entire business for the Americas. He most previously was vice president of the Americas for Infiniti. Eric Ledieu succeeded Castro in that role Feb. 1 and will oversee performance in [caption id="attachment_58358740" align="alignleft" width="101"] Tim Gilbert[/caption] the United States, Canada and Mexico. Ledieu, a 20-year veteran of Nissan, had been director of sales and regional operations for Infiniti. Tim Gilbert was promoted to vice president of the dealer network [caption id="attachment_58358741" align="alignright" width="121"] Matt Ericson[/caption] development, customer resources and training for Nissan and Infiniti. He succeeds Steve Milette , the new Oceania director for Nissan after more than eight years with the company. Matt Ericson , a 20-year Nissan veteran, will assume Gilbert’s previous role as regional vice president for Nissan’s Southeast region. Ford Credit taps Fernandez as director of product Adrian Edward Fernandez in January was named director of product for payment platforms, known as FordPay , at Ford Credit , according to a LinkedIn post. Fernandez had been director of product for Ford Pro Insurance at the captive since April 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. His 14-year career includes posts at Mobilitas Insurance and Farmers Insurance . Ajit Nalla new head of decision sciences at Wells Fargo Ajit Nalla was named the head of decision sciences at Wells Fargo in January. [caption id="attachment_58352645" align="alignright" width="114"] Ajit Nalla[/caption] His responsibilities include driving growth in consumer lending businesses through unifying data, modeling, financial valuations, insights, infrastructure and tools as a platform for the bank, according to a post on his LinkedIn profile. Most recently, he was chief risk officer for the bank's unsecured lending and merchant services and has been with Wells Fargo since September 2023. Nalla is a 20-year veteran of the risk management industry and spent the bulk of his career at JP Morgan Chase before joining Wells. GM Financial’s Lovato named SVP of digital technology [caption id="attachment_58358743" align="alignright" width="115"] Terri Lovato[/caption] GM Financial promoted Terri Lovato , a 25-year veteran of the company, to senior vice president of digital technology, according to her LinkedIn post. Lovato was vice president of information technology for almost a decade and has held other leadership positions at the captive. Past responsibilities included developing and implementing procedures and compliance for teams she led. U.S. Bancorp CEO Kedia to lead board of directors [caption id="attachment_58358742" align="alignright" width="132"] Gunjan Kedia[/caption] U.S. Bancorp on Jan. 28 announced Chief Executive and President will assume the position of chairman of the board of directors. Kedia will succeed Andy Cecere , who is set retire in April, according to the release. Kedia, who has been with the company for more than a decade, has more than 30 years of experience in financial services spanning executive roles at State Street Financial , BNY , McKinsey and PwC , the release stated. Crescent’s Donohue joins Global Lending Services as chief credit officer [caption id="attachment_58358749" align="alignleft" width="115"] Brian Donohue[/caption] Brian Donohue is joining Global Lending Services as chief credit officer, according to a LinkedIn post from Chief Executive Steve Thibodeau today. He succeeds Thomas Hancock. Donohue has more than 27 years of experience in the lending industry. He joins GLS from Crescent Bank and Trust where he most recently served as chief executive since 2020 after being promoted from chief risk officer, a role he served in since 2017, according to LinkedIn. He also held several leadership positions at Exeter Finance Corp . and Capital One . Flagship’s Burns joins Level as head of sales Heidi Burns joined Level, an AI focused servicing and collections firm, as head of sales after 11 years at Flagship Credit . Burns announced her new position via a LinkedIn post in January. In this role, she will focus on recovery outcomes for lenders and administrators, using AI tools. She has more than 20 years of experience in the financial and automotive industries, including roles at Fleet Advocates and Walden Automotive . Most recently, she was vice president of marketing and originations at Flagship for more than four years. Jason Bichsel newest partner at Womble Bond Dickison Jason Bischel joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a partner, according to a January LinkedIn post from the consumer finance and compliance veteran. He was hired as a part of a 36-person expansion of the firm’s national consumer financial services team. Bischel joined from McGlinchey Stafford , which announced in mid-January that it was closing after 51 years. Bischel’s 18-year career includes stints at BMW Financial Services , Thompson Hine LLP and Akerman . Ben Murray tapped as head of risk intelligence at InformedIQ [caption id="attachment_58358745" align="alignleft" width="148"] Ben Murray[/caption] Ben Murray was named head of risk intelligence for InformedIQ in January, according to a LinkedIn post. “This opportunity brings together many of the things I’m passionate about — risk, analytics and building practical solutions that make a real difference,” he said in the post. Murray had been vice president of credit risk at Prestige Financial Services , and was responsible for developing and implementing subprime underwriting policy, risk-based credit modeling and risk strategies. Prestige ended originations and laid off an unspecified number of employees in November 2025. Cox Auto names Jeremy Robb as chief economist Jeremy Robb was named chief economist at Cox Automotive in February after serving as interim chief economist since November 2025. [caption id="attachment_58358750" align="alignleft" width="150"] Jeremy Robb[/caption] Robb joined the company in July 2018 and has held several leadership roles, according to a Cox release. He is succeeding Jonathan Smoke , who was promoted to chief strategy officer last year. Prior to joining Cox, he spent six years at Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp in the captive’s analytics and sales departments, according to his LinkedIn. He has also worked at Direct General Insurance and investment firms such as DSQ Capital Management and Jeffries Asset Management . Auto Finance News will present multiple invaluable events for industry professionals in 2026, starting with Auto Finance Summit East and Auto Finance Capital Summit in May. To see event agendas and register, visit autofinance.live .

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