Toronto, Ontario — Honda Canada issued a press release on Monday to announce that Jean Marc Leclerc will take over from the current CEO, Dave Gardner, as he moves to a new position at Honda’s U.S. division.
Leclerc currently serves as Honda Canada’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing and joined the Honda team in 1995 as an Atlantic zone manager for Acura. He has since served as assistant vice president of marketing, assistant vice president of Honda’s motorcycle division and vice president of the risk management officer and secretary at Honda Canada Finance, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and customer service functions for Honda’s financial product offerings.
Leclerc has overseen many marketing efforts at Honda—including a recent revamp on the automaker’s approach to auto shows in the country. The company featured new displays at Montreal and Toronto’s auto shows in January and February, which exhibit fewer vehicles and includes more information about the company’s culture, history and manufacturing efforts.
Dave Gardner, who has served as president and CEO of Honda Canada for three years, will be joining American Honda Motor Co. as executive vice president and business unit head of automobile sales.
Gardner’s career at Honda Canada began in 1989 as a Honda district sales manager in the Central Zone office. He has held the positions of zone manager of the Central zone, national sales manager for both Honda and Acura, assistant vice president for Acura, vice president of Honda’s customer service division and vice president of sales and marketing for both Honda and Acura. In 2015, Gardner became senior vice president of operations and risk management officer. In 2017, he was named President and CEO of Honda Canada.
“Dave is a strong Honda leader who brings years of broad-based experience to this key position in our U.S. operations,” said Shinji Aoyama, president and CEO of Honda’s American division. “He has extensive knowledge of the auto industry and is highly respected by our Honda and Acura dealers in Canada and by the leadership of our North America operations. I have great confidence in both his character and abilities.”
In his new job, Gardner follows Henio Arcangeli Jr., who left his role as senior vice president of the automobile division at American Honda in February. In addition to leading auto sales, he will oversee the heads of American Honda’s parts, service, customer relations and technical service divisions.
Both Lerclerc’s and Gardner’s appointments are effective May 1, 2020.
