EVANSVILLE, IN — Accuride Corp. announced that Leigh Wright has been promoted to serve as the company’s senior vice president of Accuride Wheels. In addition, Edward Gulda will join the company as senior vice president of Brillion and Gunite.

Wright, who previously served as Accuride’s vice president of Steel Wheels, will now be responsible for the strategic global leadership and manufacturing oversight of the company’s steel and aluminum wheel facilities.

"Under Leigh’s direction, Accuride recently restructured the steel wheel business unit to ensure its long-term competitiveness and also successfully introduced AccuLite, a light weight steel wheel which we believe will become an industry standard," said John Murphy, Accuride’s president and CEO. "In his new role, we look for Leigh to continue the focus on operational excellence while building upon our market leading steel and aluminum wheel product portfolio to increase the solutions we provide our customers."

Wright joined Accuride in March 2004 and has more than 20 years of progressive management experience, most of which has been in the heavy truck industry. Wright has a MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, a CIM from McMaster University, and a Manufacturing Engineering Technologist diploma from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.

On Dec. 17, Edward Gulda will join Accuride as senior vice president of Brillion and Gunite. In this role, Gulda will be responsible for the strategic leadership and increased manufacturing efficiency of Accuride’s Brillion and Gunite strategic business units.

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Gulda most recently served as principal for Kinnick Group LLC, a business-consulting firm focused on mergers, acquisitions and business turnarounds. Gulda previously served as chairman and CEO of Peregrine Inc., chief executive of Kelsey Hayes, and president and COO of Dayton Walther. Gulda holds a BSE and MBA from University of Michigan.

"Ed’s extensive background in business development and operations optimization coupled with his in-depth experience in the commercial vehicle industry affords him the expertise necessary to aggressively implement strategic improvements at our Brillion and Gunite facilities so as to strengthen the business units’ competitiveness," said Murphy.

Gulda replaces Robert Nida who has left Accuride to pursue other career opportunities.

For more information about Accuride, visit: http://accuridecorp.com.

EVANSVILLE, IN — Accuride Corp. this week announced several executive management appointments and redistribution of responsibilities, which are effective immediately.

Terrence Keating, Accuride’s current president, chief executive officer (CEO), and member of the board will continue as a board member and as the company’s CEO.

John Murphy, currently Accuride’s chief financial officer (CFO), will now serve as president and CFO.

Dave Armstrong, Accuride’s current senior vice president and general counsel, will continue as general counsel and will also serve as the company’s senior vice president/finance.

Tony Donatelli, Accuride’s current president of the Imperial Group, will become a corporate senior vice president with additional responsibility for Bostrom Seating.

Jamie Greene, member of KKR, LLC, and chairman of Accuride’s Board, said the appointments “… are a natural evolution of top leadership responsibilities at Accuride.”

“One of the factors leading KKR to purchase Accuride in 1998 was the strength of the company’s management team,” said Greene. “Since that time, this team has successfully weathered an industry downturn, led the company through a significant merger and completed its initial public offering of common stock. Accuride’s seasoned and growing top leadership team has the experience and skill to continue to successfully lead the Company.”

“The changes to senior leadership accountabilities are supported by our topside bench strength, depth and versatility. These moves allow for well planned and seamless succession planning at Accuride, such that organizational performance, customer service and leadership continuity should be optimized over the coming years,” added Keating. “In addition to demonstrated competencies in their current assignments, John, Dave and Tony bring significant strengths to the table in the new roles they will assume, all of which will be key as the company continues to pursue growth initiatives and ongoing optimization of its current operations.”

Other members of the executive management team will continue in their current roles.

For more information about Accuride, visit: www.accuridecorp.com .

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