Cleland out front at Motion

Motion Industries, a distributor of maintenance, repair and operation replacement parts and a provider of industrial technology solutions, has named Chris Cleland to senior vice-president of strategy and markets. Cleland’s career spans 25 years in consulting, strategy, marketing, branding, e-commerce, business development and transformation. In his previous role as principal consultant at Cummings Creative Group for the past 20 years, he led multiple successful initiatives across several industry verticals, driving growth and innovation for clients including over 12 years consulting with Motion on marketing and strategy projects. Prior to his time with CCG, Cleland gained valuable experience as president/owner of LithoSigns and as a sales manager with Citadel Broadcasting. In his new role, Cleland will lead the company’s strategy development for its business groups, plus the e-commerce and digital teams. He will report to James Howe, Motion’s executive vice-president and CCO/CTO.

“Chris brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our team,” said Howe. “His impressive track record in innovation and transformation makes him a perfect fit for guiding our company-wide strategic planning process and shaping our future growth and success. We look forward to an exciting journey ahead.”

Cleland graduated from The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), earning a Bachelor of Science in Business.

With annual sales of over $8 billion, Motion is an industrial distributor of more than 19 million parts and supplies, including bearings; mechanical power transmission products; electrical and industrial automation components; hose, belting, and gaskets; hydraulic and pneumatic components; process pumps; industrial and safety products; seals and accessories; and material handling products and solutions. To increase customers’ productivity, the company offers many value-added services, including engineering, fabrication, repair, and Industry 4.0 solutions across these product groups. In addition, Motion Automation Intelligence (Motion Ai), Motion Conveyance Solutions and Motion Repair & Services were formed to offer a wide range of specialized, related products and innovative solutions for many applications. Motion North America expanded its footprint in 2022 to include Kaman Distribution Group and now has over 600 branch and service center locations and 19 distribution centers. Motion Asia Pacific has 150 locations and 16 distribution centers in Australasia. Motion serves more than 200,000 OEM and MRO customers in the equipment and machinery, food and beverage, pulp and paper, iron and steel, chemical, mining and aggregate, petrochemical, automotive, semiconductor, wood and lumber, medical and pharmaceutical industries. Motion is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC).

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