Main man: After spending the past year leading Nissan’s ‘Infiniti Task Force’ in China, Chris Mallios will now oversee Infiniti’s operations across Asia and Oceania.

SENIOR Australian industry executive Chris Mallios has been appointed managing director of Infiniti Asia and Oceania, overseeing the operations of Nissan’s luxury brand across a broad range of markets including Australia and New Zealand.

Replacing Hironori Fujita and reporting directly to Infiniti Motor chairman and global president Roland Krueger, Mr Mallios was previously director of Nissan Motor Corporation’s Infiniti Task Force in China with responsibility for leading “the transformation, development and growth” of the Nissan-Dongfeng joint venture set up in 2014 to produce Infiniti vehicles for the world’s biggest automotive market.

He was in this role for about a year, having joined Nissan/Infiniti after almost two decades in a variety of senior management positions in Australia and across Asia spanning automotive parts supply, logistics and construction equipment sales and distribution.

This included almost five years with Perth-based CFC Group – an investment and development group with interests in distribution, logistics, mining, property and infrastructure – in roles such as chief executive (mining services and construction), group chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

Earlier in his career, Mr Mallios served as group CFO for financial services company GBST and held high-level positions with component supplier TE Connectivity (formerly Tyco Electronics), including CFO for the Asia-Pacific region (global automotive division), CFO for South Asia, Australia and New Zealand and finance director for the Australasian region.

He also served as group commercial manager (Aust/NZ) for Tyco International.

As Mr Mallios takes the reins of Infiniti’s operations in the Asia and Oceania region, Mr Fujita becomes general manager of regional operations, reporting back to Nissan in a role designed to improve business operations and performance by “strengthening the link” between regional offices and Infiniti headquarters in Hong Kong.

In announcing Mr Mallios’ appointment, Mr Krueger said: “Infiniti’s Asia and Oceania region continues to grow and has great potential. I am confident that with his experience, Chris will continue the momentum and take our business to the next level across the region.”

As previously reported, Nissan/Infiniti has made a number of key personnel changes to its regional operations in recent months, with former head of Infiniti Korea Chang-hwan (CH) Lee taking the reins of Infiniti Cars Australia and, at the same time, three Nissan Australia general managers – Craig Clarke (sales), Simon Taylor (legal) and Peter Fadeyev (corporate communications) – taking on regional roles.

Former Nissan Australia corporate communications manager Chris Jordan has also spent the past 12 months as Infiniti’s global product and brand communications manager based at its Hong Kong headquarters, although he is now preparing to return to Australia as the new head of public relations for Porsche Cars Australia.

By Terry Martin