Guy Charron Joins MCI as Vice President Regional Sales Eastern Canada

Guy Charron has joined MCI as vice president, regional sales eastern Canada, succeeding Joe Simard, who is retiring after an eight-year career at MCI and 31 years in the industry. Charron will be responsible for MCI and Setra new-coach sales as well as the sale of pre-owned coaches to private and public operators in Quebec and the Maritime provinces. He reports to Patricia Ziska, MCI vice president of new coach sales.

Charron was formerly president of World Bus Corp., a joint venture between entities in Mexico and Canada to develop an urban bus for the Latin America market. Before that, he was with Corbeil Buses, a school-bus manufacturer founded in Quebec by his grandfather in 1936. Charron also has a 21-year career as a production supervisor at an urban-bus plant in the Saguenay region of Quebec that had been owned by several leading manufacturers, including MCI from 1987 through 1993. Charron, who studied manufacturing engineering, began his career at GMC Trucks in 1977 and worked for a time at GM’s diesel division in powertrain purchasing. A native of Montreal, he is fluent in French, English and Spanish.

“We welcome Guy’s expertise and believe in his ability build on the success of the MCI product line in Eastern Canada and to further develop relationships with our customers so important in our industry,” said Ziska.  “He also joins MCI’s established Canada team, all of whom are eager to provide unmatched customer satisfaction.” MCI’s Canadian group includes Regional Sales Vice Presidents Guy Tessier, responsible for Western Canadian provinces, and John Leone, Ontario; Chad Sadowy, MCI Technical Solutions Manager; and Doug DePape, MCI Parts Solutions Manager. In addition, the MCI Sales and Service Center in Montreal serves area operators with factory-trained technicians and offers maintenance, repair and regional parts supply.

“This is a great time to be in transportation,” said Charron.  “Transit authorities are more closely tied to private suburban and highway operators. The silos are gone. A typical operator’s fleet includes school buses, urban buses and motor coaches, and there’s more awareness of motor coach models and benefits. Our culture is quite European. The Setra product holds a lot of interest here as does MCI, due to its Canadian roots and history of best-selling models in North America. I am excited to join the MCI team.”