Peterson Manufacturing announces new hires to sales team

Peterson Manufacturing, a provider of commercial vehicle and trailer safety lighting and harness systems that is based in Grandview, Missouri, has announced Jay Davenport will join the team as director of OEM sales and Jody Schara as manager of fleet sales.

“We are excited to welcome Jay and Jody to the Peterson team. Both have many years of experience building strong relationships and taking care of fleets and OEMs in the commercial vehicle market,” says Al Anderson, vice president of sales and marketing for Peterson. “Jay has been focused on lighting and harness systems for his entire career and Jody brings very strong technical knowledge to our customers as well. Their skills and experiences ensure that Peterson remains customer focused and top of mind to our current and future fleet and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers.”

As director of OEM sales, Davenport will be responsible for developing and managing OEM relationships across several market segments, positioning Peterson as the standard or optional lighting and harness system choice for the OEMs within those segments.

Prior to his role at Peterson, Davenport was the Midwest regional sales manager for Southfield, Michigan-based Clarience Technologies’ RoadReady system. He has also held roles at Truck-Lite, Falconer, New York, and the Maxxima Division of Panor Corp., Hauppauge, New York, as its national OEM manager, where he developed their OEM base.

In Schara’s position as manager of fleet sales, he will work with fleets and dealers to spec Peterson products at OEMs to drive business. He also will work closely with Davenport to ensure that the needs of our fleet customers are met.

Schara joins Peterson from ZF Group, based in Germany, where he was key account leader for trailer OEMs, responsible for sales and service of many major semi-trailer manufacturers. Prior to joining ZF, he held two positions at STEMCO; one as OEM sales manager, assigned to large OEM accounts, and district sales manager, responsible for aftermarket sales, pull through marketing, distributor management, customer relations, installation training and service activity.