Workhorse Group, a technology company focused on providing drone-integrated electric vehicles to the last-mile delivery sector, appointed Ryan Gaul to the newly created position of president of commercial vehicles, effective April 22.

In this role, Gaul will be responsible for managing Workhorse’s commercial vehicles division, including its manufacturing facility in Union City, IN. Gaul will report directly to Duane Hughes, CEO of Workhorse Group.

Gaul has nearly two decades of automotive experience in senior and executive management positions. Since 2002, he held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Gentherm, where he spearheaded manufacturing, supply chain, M&A, business development, marketing and IT initiatives. His career includes international assignments in Germany and China, where he led Gentherm’s transformation, commercial and manufacturing expansion in Asia. Most recently, as senior vice president of global manufacturing and supply chain, he managed more than 10,000 associates and 12 manufacturing sites.

“On behalf of the entire Workhorse team, I’d like to formally welcome Ryan to our organization,” Hughes said. “Ryan embodies a unique mix of broad functional leadership experience with significant commercial production acumen, both of which will be invaluable as we continue our production ramp. We’ll be looking for Ryan to hit the ground running with our manufacturing teams to implement better systems and industry best practices to help us scale more quickly. Going forward, as we continue to grow and expand our production footprint, we expect Ryan will be playing a major role in these efforts as well.”

“I’m looking forward to joining the Workhorse team at such an exciting and pivotal time in its development,” Gaul said. “I understand firsthand the unique challenges of scaling automotive production, and I’m confident that the combination of skills I’ve gained through my past experiences and successes, combined with our strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Belcan and Hitachi and the great team Workhorse already has and continues to grow, will ensure Workhorse remains on a path to achieve its long-term growth goals.”