Aussie woman to run Fiat-Chrysler

As president and CEO of Fiat-Chrysler Australia Melbourne-born Veronica Johns will also be in charge of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat and Alfa Romeo in Australia. Source: Supplied

• Veronica Johns now president and CEO of Fiat-Chrysler Australia
• Move follows only a handful of foreign female car bosses
• Johns says car industry "isn't a man's world anymore"

FIAT-Chrysler has appointed the first Australian female to head a car company locally - but rather than be responsible for just one brand she will in fact be in charge of five.

Melbourne-born Veronica Johns, 42, will take up the role of president and CEO in charge of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat and Alfa Romeo in Australia (the North American and Italian firms joined forces in 2009).

Johns will start in the new position next week after 14 years with the company, having worked for four CEOs.

In the past three years as sales director she oversaw dramatic growth, from 8000 deliveries in 2010 to more than 24,000 across the Fiat-Chrysler Group last year - and grew the dealer network from 42 outlets to 96.

"I'm not a 'corporate ladder' person, but I'm excited to earn this position," Johns said. "I don't think it makes a difference if you're male or female in this business anymore. Good people rise to the top. The car industry is not a man's world anymore. And, I believe, Chrysler has been at the forefront of that movement."

The Freemont is a product of the Fiat-Chrysler alliance.

Only handful of foreign women have run car companies in Australia over the past 10 years. American Judith Wheeler was the first, she ran Chrysler-Jeep in Australia from 2000 to 2003. Germans Jutta Dierks and Anke Koeckler successively ran Volkswagen's Australian operations over the past six years.

But Johns is understood to be the first Australian woman to run a large car company in Australia. She edged out male rivals from North America who were keen to take up the prime posting.

In handing over the reins, the outgoing CEO Clyde Campbell, who is leaving to become the Fiat-Chrysler importer in New Zealand, said: "When they did the assessment, Veronica was by far the best candidate."

Johns says it will be difficult to maintain the company's rapid rise in sales over the past three years but expects steady growth with the arrival of key new Alfa Romeo and Fiat models, and better supply of the in-demand Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler.

"We're selling everything we can get at the moment," she said. "In fact last month we ran out of Grand Cherokees. We hope to get better supply of that model, but Alfa Romeo and Fiat have the biggest opportunity for growth."

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

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Why one powerful woman quit email

US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano speaks during a daily press briefing a the White House February 25, 2013 in Washington, DC. Picture: Getty/Brendan Smialowski Source: Getty Images

THE United States Homeland Security Secretary hasn't used email in more than 10 years, because she thinks it's a time waster.

Janet Napolitano told reporters on Tuesday that she quit email when she was Attorney General of Arizona, which was between 1999 and 2002.

"I think email just sucks up time ... in a job like mine [it's] inefficient," she said.

"I stopped using email when I was the Attorney General of Arizona.

"Because I was just getting, I was starting to get hundreds and hundreds of things all the time and I was like: 'Why I am spending the time scrolling through this and responding to stuff that doesn't really need to be responded to?'"

Instead, she gets by with briefings from her staff, and does a lot of her own work over the phone.

"It allows me to focus where I need to focus," she said.

And, no surprises here: She doesn't text or "Twitter" either.

Ms Napolitano was Governor of Arizona between 2003 and 2009, and has been in her position since 2009.

In 2012, Forbes nominated her as the world's ninth-most powerful woman.

Of course, if you don't have a team of White House briefing staff to keep you on top of your schedule, you might not have the option of ignoring all your Outlook meeting requests and emails from your manager.

Learn how to sort out your email inbox once and for all here.

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