Nancy McLean began her career with General Motors in 1978, with the former Packard Electric (now Delphi Packard Electric) in Warren, Ohio, where she held a variety of engineering and business planning positions. In 1990, McLean became marketing and business planning manager at Packard Electric’s European Operations headquartered in Wuppertal, Germany. In 1993, she transferred to what became Delphi Automotive Systems Corp., as the director of marketing. In 1996, McLean transferred to General Motors Service Parts Operations (SPO) as a general product manager with responsibility for collision and powertrain. She was appointed director of sales and marketing for SPO — Canada in May 1999. She currently serves as director, ACDelco and Wholesale Marketing. McLean graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s in industrial and systems engineering. She also earned an MBA from the University of Virginia as a GM Fellow.

In this exclusive AMN Executive Interview, McLean talks with aftermarketNews about future plans for the ACDelco portfolio as it continues its legacy with General Motors. McLean provides more detail on some recent product introductions, as well as the renaming of the GM Service and Parts Operations division to Customer Care and Aftersales.

In late 2008 it was announced that General Motors was considering selling the ACDelco brand as part of its strategic plan to bolster its liquidity position. In April 2009 however, Fritz Henderson, GM’s CEO at the time, pulled ACDelco off the market. Now that ACDelco is firmly back in the GM portfolio, what are the plans for going forward?

The decision to keep ACDelco in the GM family reflected the value this brand has brought – and continues to bring – to our distributors, independent service centers and dealers, as well as to General Motors. It is one of the most powerful aftermarket brands in the world.

The direction to maintain ACDelco as a critical and valuable part of the General Motors business portfolio has been a major catalyst for change within our organization – and not just for the ACDelco business channel. We had a unique opportunity over the course of the past 18 months to (1) look at every aspect of our business and value it for a potential sale, while re-evaluating every strategy that we had in place; and then (2) re-focus our business and integrate into the New GM to create even more value for our ACDelco customers and for General Motors. We were able to strip out non-valuable business practices and paradigms, as we focused on long-term sustainable growth.

It has been a cathartic process in every sense of the word. Moving forward we intend to leverage our many strengths, including a century of heritage and an unrivaled distribution network, to grow both our dealer and aftermarket sales. With consumers keeping their vehicles longer, there is tremendous opportunity in the marketplace.

ACDelco’s future is bright because ACDelco delivers much more than parts: we are part of something bigger. Our extensive field support, e-commerce business tools, industry-leading training support for our affiliated service centers and marketing support provide value, opportunity and profit to our customers.

What benefits does ACDelco receive from remaining part of GM?

One of the greatest benefits, of course, is that ACDelco continues to provide original equipment service parts for America’s largest car parc, GM, through the largest dealer and aftermarket distribution network in the U.S. We have an unprecedented opportunity to grow our sales by providing the industry’s most comprehensive parts portfolio at very competitive prices.

We also maintain access to the engineers and designers working on the latest systems and innovations – that helps us leverage that knowledge base into our requirements, standards and expectations. As ACDelco moves forward, we can claim that we not only have the OE parts for the GM car parc, we are the OE service parts source. And, we successfully leverage this knowledge in our non-GM offerings, assuring that every product line we offer, for all vehicle makes and models, earns the ACDelco name. We leverage all aspects of General Motors, which uniquely positions us in the aftermarket.

In March, it was announced that GM was renaming the Service and Parts Operations to Customer Care and Aftersales. What does this entail and what does it represent?

Yes, the organization was renamed Customer Care & Aftersales from Service and Parts Operations in part to reflect our company’s rededication to providing customers with the world-class experience they deserve. While at ACDelco we are primarily focused on our wholesale customers, independent service centers and dealers, the name change also reflects a culture within ACDelco to provide our customers with high-quality, competitively priced parts as well as the marketing, e-commerce and training support that helps them grow their business.

Organizational name changes, when done right, can become a spark or an aid to cultural change. By renaming GM Service and Parts Operations to Customer Care and Aftersales, we are clearly communicating to every person on our team the importance of customer focus, in addition to great parts and service sales. Some may not see the importance of this name change, but similar to what we are trying to accomplish with ACDelco, we want every big and small business strategy to move the new GM into the most successful place in our history.

Can you please talk about the brand’s various offerings both to the OE marketplace and the aftermarket?

ACDelco’s product offering includes three major tiers, in addition to specialty products that we provide to serve particular niches.

First, GM Original Equipment Service Parts: ACDelco’s heritage and strength lie in our longstanding role as the producer of OE parts for the world’s largest car parc – GM cars and trucks. We currently offer nearly 40,000 GM OES parts available both to distributors and through the GM dealer network, including a comprehensive lineup of power window regulators for GM, engine and transmission components that are now available to the independent aftermarket.

Second is our Professional line of high quality aftermarket products for not only GM but also many other makes and models. Our major lines include batteries, filters, plugs, brakes, chassis, rotating electrical, water pumps, A/C, belts, hoses and more.

Finally, we have recently introduced a market driven, competitive line of products that has earned the ACDelco name called ACDelco Advantage.

Can you please tell our readers more about the ACDelco Advantage product line that was recently unveiled?

I’d love to. We launched this new product lineup to help our customers provide a competitively priced alternative to certain unbranded aftermarket components. We understand there has been a growing shift to “good” grade products as a result of the economic downturn and changing consumer priorities. We will only offer these products where the market demand drives the need as our professional line already addresses many of the needs of our customers. The ACDelco Advantage portfolio delivers quality parts that meet our high standards, yet are attractively priced for our distributors, dealers and service centers. The ACDelco Advantage lineup launched with brake rotors and drums and will add a friction line this summer.

With all the recent changes at ACDelco – the new division name, new product line and renewed commitment from GM – will there be any subsequent changes to your marketing and/or branding strategy this year?

There has certainly been great change in our organization during the past 18 months. Despite the change, however, that red, white and blue ACDelco box stands for a century of durability and trust. We’ve leveraged this period of change as an opportunity to drive continuous improvements to our products and streamline our product offerings and business channels; focus on strengthening our relationships with our customers; and anticipate trends in the marketplace that we can quickly capitalize on. The launch of our ACDelco Advantage lineup is a good example of how we’ve been able to accomplish this, and our customers have responded enthusiastically.

Everything that we’ve just mentioned is part of our brand strategy. We are taking one of the strongest brands in the aftermarket and building to it. We are making more and more GM Original Equipment Service parts available to the independent aftermarket. We are adding more competitively priced Advantage lines to our portfolio, reflecting the changing demands of the marketplace. Our customers will see an ever-stronger portfolio of products that have earned the brand they have come to trust and have confidence in. We are uniquely positioned in the aftermarket because of our relationship with General Motors, but we have not and will not lose sight of our coverage on all makes and models. Our marketing and communications will all reflect the actions that we are taking to serve our customers better and strengthen the ACDelco brand.