Wayne, N.J. — Haier America has promoted Paul Riley to sales and marketing senior VP.
He succeeds Rian Cain, who has left the company.
Riley, a 15-year veteran of GE Appliances, joined Haier last August to head majap sales and marketing.
Cain joined Haier a year earlier from American TV & Appliances in the same role, and was later promoted to senior VP.
More recently Cain helped develop Haier’s new lifestyle marketing approach, dubbed “platform solutions,” that melds its white-goods and CE lines into complete product packages that address the various stages in consumers’ lives.
The strategy is part of the company’s marketplace relaunch as the “New Haier.”
In a statement, president/CEO Adrian Micu said Haier America has made “significant progress” under Cain’s leadership, and thanked him for his many contributions over the last two years.
He added that Ryan has done “an excellent job developing … go-to market product commercialization and merchandising strategies” for the platform solutions concept.
“I am fully confident that Paul will provide the leadership necessary to continue our transformation towards more complex solutions-focused selling – communicating a revitalized Haier brand message,” Micu said.
Haier also promoted VP Sanjay Gupta to senior VP and business unit leader. Like Micu, Gupta was a longtime Whirlpool exec. He joined Haier at the same time as Riley to develop product roadmaps and a strategic plan for all appliance categories. In that role, “Sanjay has been the driving force in finding solutions for the many product gaps that existed within our line,” Micu said.
In his new post, he is responsible for the overall competitiveness, profitability and strategic direction of the platform solutions business, and will provide strategic, operational and collaborative leadership, Micu said.
Both Riley and Gupta report directly to Micu, and neither of their prior positions will be filled.
Former Sharp home entertainment sales exec John Homlish continues in his role as senior VP of Haier’s digital living business unit.
