Adrian Hallmark will leave Saab for Jaguar.
Just months after joining Sweden’s Saab as its marketing chief, Adrian Hallmark has tendered his resignation and will move to Jaguar.
The otherwise amicable announcement could pose problems for Saab, which is struggling to revive after former owner General Motors nearly shut it down earlier this year.
Hallmark’s departure – which won’t happen until the end of November – could put a monkey wrench into Saab’s plans to re-establish its global distribution network, a critical step in assuring the company’s survival, cautioned a source close to the Swedish company.
But his move to Jaguar will come at an equally critical time, with the automaker and its sibling Land Rover brand in the midst of developing their own global growth strategy.
Hallmark’s decision to leave Saab wasn’t entirely surprising to those close to the British-born executive. He has moved a number of times over the last decade, having bounced through a series of jobs with the Volkswagen Group that took him to the U.S., Asia and then Wolfsburg, Germany.
In fact, he initially decided to delay his family’s move to Sweden and was instead making the long-distance commute.
Along with the potential opportunities with the Indian-owned Jaguar-Land Rover organization, a source said, the idea of moving back to Britain was much easier on the family for Hallmark.
Hallmark will now serve as global brand director at Jaguar, which has been undergoing a number of personnel changes. Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll, for one, plans to retire early next year.
Other changes include the appointment of Phil Popham, currently managing director of Land Rover, to the post of J-LR’s global sales and service director. John Edwards will become Hallmark’s global brand director counterpart at Land Rover. Mike Wright gets the new post of executive director for J-LR.
“These new appointments and the new structure significantly strengthen the marketing and sales organisation for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands within the framework of one globally successful company,” said Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar-Land Rover’s CEO. “The changes will also ensure that the voice of the customer is heard even more clearly at the most senior level in the business.”