Volkswagen Group of America has cut the cord with its former head of U.S. sales, who's spent the last year laying the groundwork for more than $2 billion of planned electrical charging infrastructure in the U.S.
Mark McNabb, 57, has "decided to leave" Electrify America -- the wholly owned Volkswagen subsidiary overseeing the court-mandated installation of $2 billion in electrical charging stations and infrastructure nationwide -- where he has worked as CEO since its creation in February 2017. The automaker said Tuesday that McNabb would be replaced by Giovanni Palazzo.
Palazzo, whose age was unavailable, has been a Volkswagen executive since 2011, working most recently as head of its e-mobility business, group strategy for parent company Volkswagen AG. He will start at Electrify America later this year, the automaker said.
McNabb, has previously held top executive roles with Nissan, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati, among others. He was Volkswagen Group of America's COO prior to taking over Electrify America in the wake of Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal.
"I want to thank Mark for his leadership in creating a totally new organization within Volkswagen Group of America," Hinrich Woebcken, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said in a written statement. "Mark led a tremendous effort to help make things right for our customers and dealers during the TDI crisis. Under his guidance, Electrify America is off to a great start putting chargers into the ground and educating consumers about the benefits of e-mobility."
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