Vestas has appointed Javier Rodriguez Diez to replace Juan Araluce y Martinez de Azagra, who is leaving the company by the end of June.
Rodriguez Diez (pictured) moves into his new role from 1 July from serving as president of Vestas Mediterranean.
Rodriguez Diez will become part of Vestas’ executive management with commercial and sales responsibility across onshore and offshore wind globally as well as relocate to Copenhagen with immediate effect.
Vestas is also making internal changes to its commercial setup and operating model to include the creation of Vestas Latin America, from 1 January 2022.
Eduardo Ricotta Torres Costa, who currently serves as head of sales for Latin America, has been appointed regional president of Vestas Latin America from 1 January 2022.
The company is also simplifying its reporting setup, so that from today all regional presidents report directly into Vestas’ group president and chief executive officer, Henrik Andersen.
Andersen said: “The wind industry would not have grown at the speed it has in the last decade without Juan Araluce’s tremendous contribution to making wind projects more profitable, which has been key to making Vestas a global leader in sustainable energy solutions.
“Replacing Juan is tough and big shoes to fill, but we are excited that we have such a strong internal replacement in Javier Rodriguez Diez who has the track record, experience, and business acumen to lead Vestas’ commercial and sales organisation towards our vision.”
Andersen said that with Vestas Latin America, the company wants to “grow profitably” by strengthening its footprint and reach in the region to the benefit of its customers.
Araluce has spent almost 15 years in Vestas and played a key part in “recreating customers’ trust” in the company during its turnaround in 2012-2014.
Since then, he has lead Vestas’ sales and construction business, growing order intake from 7.4GW in 2011 to 17.2GW in 2020 and deliveries from 5.2GW to 17.2GW during the same period.
As president of Vestas Mediterranean, Rodriguez Diez will be replaced by Jose Luis Jimeno, currently senior vice president of global service commercial.
At the same time, Laura Beane, currently chief renewables officer of Engie North America, will become president of Vestas North America on 1 July, succeeding Eduardo Medina Sanchez, who will leave the company by end of August.
The appointment of Beane follows a period of preparing Vestas North America for the expected future growth in the US market in the coming years.
Beane joins Vestas from leadership roles in Engie, Avangrid and PacifiCorp and begins her onboarding and succession with Eduardo Medina Sanchez immediately.
“Last but not least, I want to thank Eduardo Medina Sanchez for his great contribution to Vestas, most recently leading Vestas North America through a difficult period and creating a strong foundation for Laura Beane to build upon”, Andersen added.