George Lumpkins, product marketing and developing general manager.

Katy, TX – Kobelco Construction Machinery USA has appointed of George Lumpkins, product marketing and developing general manager, and Ken Folden, national service manager in the excavator division.

As an accomplished construction equipment sales, service, engineering and product specialist, Lumpkins brings more than 45 years of industry experience to his newly appointed position. In his new role as product marketing and developing general manager, he will work closely with the sales and services departments to spearhead marketing, product development, support and ongoing communications that further increase Kobelco's brand awareness and begin a new phase of growth in North America.

Lumpkins will develop and deliver training materials, evaluate competitive machinery, conduct comparative analyses and identify market trends that affect current and future product development criteria. He also will provide support to dealer sales personnel on machine specifications, performance, demonstration and preparation needs.

Although new to this title, Lumpkins is not unfamiliar with the Kobelco brand. He has held several positions at Kobelco USA for more than 20 years. Most recently, Lumpkins served as Kobelco's national service manager and was instrumental in building and maintaining a loyal and satisfied dealer network.

“George's passion for the industry and tremendous amount of technical experience with Kobelco's machinery is critical to providing superior product support,” said Pete Morita, vice president — excavator division at Kobelco USA. “He will provide exceptional communications to our dealers and we look forward to having his expertise on board in this new position.”

Likewise, Folden brings extensive sales, service and product support expertise to his newly appointed position. In his new role as national service manager, Folden will be responsible for overseeing the service department and managing the support network for both North America and Latin America. He will ensure that service is performed at the highest level by setting goals and objectives, maintaining good employee relations and implementing proper training for service staff.

Folden also will coordinate with production, sales, quality and procurement for quality support to provide valuable information on customer service satisfaction and further grow Kobelco's loyal customer base.

Folden began servicing Kobelco excavators in 1999 and became a service representative in 2004. For the past four years, he has served as Kobelco's Canadian service manager. Folden's new role at Kobelco allows him to join the USA team at the company's headquarters in Katy, Texas, where his leadership and passion for the industry will help fuel Kobelco's future success.

“He will provide exceptional leadership, set clear goals and give positive reinforcement to our service team. We look forward to having him join us at our USA headquarters in Texas,” said Morita.

For more information, call 281/888-8430 or visit www.KOBELCO-USA.com.

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