NEW HAVEN, CT — Proliance has appointed William (Bill) Long as its vice president of marketing.
“With the formation of Proliance International, Inc., we have established a strong, customer focused platform on which to build a growing aftermarket enterprise. To enhance our efforts, we are most pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Long to the position of vice president of marketing, reporting to me,” said Charles Johnson, president and CEO of Proliance.
In his role, Long will be responsible for building all of Proliance’s brands across all of its product lines in support of its business units.
Long comes to Proliance with an extensive background in the automotive aftermarket. Until recently, Long was the vice president of marketing for the Indy Racing League responsible for all marketing, brand positioning and strategic planning for the League’s Indy Car Series and Menard’s Infiniti Pro Series. Prior to his time with the IRL, Bill worked for Dana Corp.’s automotive aftermarket strategic business unit and Echlin, Inc., where he held positions as general manager and vice president of marketing for its engine management division.
During his 25-year career at Dana/Echlin, Long was responsible for growing the company’s Borg-Warner, NAPA-Echlin, Accel, Hurst Shifter, Mr. Gasket and Beck/Arnley WorldParts brands globally. He also served as vice president of sales and marketing for Echlin’s NAPA product business and vice president of sales and marketing for both the retail consumer products groups of Auto Tune and Mr. Gasket High-Performance.
In addition, Long served as 2002 chairman of the National Car Care Council. He has earned several awards, including the Motor and Equipment Manufacturer Association’s (MEMA) Triangle Award in 1999 along with Northwood University’s 2000 Automotive Aftermarket Education Award. During the past two decades, Long has also worked as an official for NASCAR’s weekly and touring series as a chief starter, technical inspector and race director.
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