Thirty-year Manitou group veteran Serge Bosché resigned his position as vice president – sales and marketing for the Americas region, effective June 30 to pursue other opportunities.

Manitou today announced the resignation of Serge Bosché as vice president – sales and marketing for the Americas region, effective June 30. Bosché submitted his resignation in order to pursue other opportunities.

During this interim period Daniel Miller, president of the Compact Division, will take responsibility of all functions and duties of Bosché’s position while alternative replacements are considered.

Bosché originally joined the group nearly 30 years ago. With the acquisition of Gehl Co. by Manitou in late 2008, Bosché took on the role of chief financial officer, and subsequently in 2010, vice president – sales and marketing Americas region, within the new organizational structure.

Upon news of Bosché’s departure shares fell 0.2 percent to €20.85 (about U.S. $30.52).

Bosché was highly respected in the equipment rental industry. In a 2009 interview with RER, Bosché explained the core philosophy behind Manitou’s engineering: “The history of the company has always been to grow through listening to customers. We've always been very close to the users of the machines and listening to them has made us what we are today. They know more than we do about what they need in performance, features and benefits. That's the backbone of the company, that ear to the marketplace to come up with products that the customers want and need.”

Manitou Americas, headquartered in West Bend, Wis., is the combined organization of previous Manitou North America and Gehl Co. activities in America. It hosts the sales and marketing teams for North America and Latin America (supporting the Gehl, Manitou, Mustang and EDGE brand names and their respective dealer networks) and is the home of the Compact Equipment Division with state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Texas.

Manitou, the Material-Handling Reference, is headquartered in Ancenis, France. The company designs, assembles and distributes material-handling solutions for agriculture, construction and industry markets.