Peterson Manufacturing has named Jay Davenport as director of OEM sales and Jody Schara as manager of fleet sales.
Davenport will now 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.
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 will work closely with Davenport to ensure that the needs of our fleet customers are met.
“We are excited to welcome Jay and Jody to the Peterson team,” said Al Anderson, VP of sales and marketing. “Both have many years of experience building strong relationships and taking care of fleets and OEMs in the commercial vehicle market. 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 customers.”
Davenport comes from Clarience Technologies, where he was the Midwest regional sales manager for their RoadReady system in 2020. This was his second stint at the company. He left Clarience, then Truck-Lite, in 2011 to join the Maxxima Division of Panor Corp. as its national OEM manager and developed Panor's OEM base.
Schara joins Peterson from ZF Group, 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.
Davenport holds a bachelor's degree in business from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Schara earned his executive MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his bachelor's in business administration from University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
