LOS ANGELES — Kia America has named Eric Watson vice president of sales operations, overseeing the automaker’s regional and corporate sales operations in the U.S.
Watson, who has been acting vice president of sales operations since March, begins his new role immediately and reports to Kia North America CEO Sean Yoon, Kia said in a news release Monday.
Through July, Kia has achieved five consecutive monthly sales records and reached record U.S. market share, according to the automaker.
Kia America’s previous head of sales operations, Bill Peffer, resigned suddenly in January — one week after also assuming the title of COO. Peffer was named CEO of Maserati North America shortly after leaving Kia.
Watson joined Kia in December 2017 as director of field operations. Before that, Watson worked for Mazda North American Operations for eight years. His last post at Mazda was director of marketing operations, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Watson has also worked at Jaguar Land Rover North America and Ford Motor Co. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1996 with a bachelor of science degree in marketing, according to his LinkedIn profile.