ATLANTA — Yanmar America has appointed Thomas Calhoun president and COO. Calhoun succeeds Akihiko Nakaoka, who will remain on board with Yanmar through 2008 as the Industrial Division manager and senior special advisor. Yanmar is a global manufacturer of diesel engines and diesel-powered equipment.

Calhoun will operate from Yanmar’s expanding manufacturing, distribution and new corporate office facilities in Adairsville, GA, while Nakaoka will remain at the Industrial Division offices in Buffalo Grove, IL.

Calhoun was asked to join the Yanmar team in April of 1999 based on his extensive senior level marketing background with companies such as Philips, Bertram Yacht and Crusader Engines. His initial title was director of marketing for the Marine Engine Group, the Industrial Engine Division and the Replacement Parts Program.

By 2000, Calhoun was assigned to Yanmar’s Overseas Planning Department in Osaka, Japan, and in April of 2001 he was tapped as manager of the Export Marine Department that was also based in Osaka. The following year, Calhoun was reassigned to the U.S. as vice president of Yanmar Marine and promoted to president of Yanmar Marine USA in 2004.

Currently, as president of all Yanmar’s North American operating groups, including construction equipment, Calhoun has responsibility for assuring performance consistent with the parent company’s short- and long-term financial goals and strategic objectives. As part of this, he is charged with overseeing the development of all necessary systems, structures and policies necessary to achieve these goals.

For more information about Yanmar, go to: www.yanmar.com.