Bombardier Appoints Jim Vounassis as VP Operations Strategy

Bombardier has appointed Jim Vounassis as Vice President, Operations Strategy, effective 15 June 2015.

In this new position, Mr. Vounassis will conduct a detailed review of the company’s operations and implement strategies to increase value creation across the organization. In addition, he will lead Bombardier’s global action plan, focusing on improving profitability and execution to transform the business into a high performance organization.

“Jim Vounassis is recognized for his ability to increase manufacturing flexibility and to optimize cost,” said Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc. “His cross-industry experience will be invaluable as we reevaluate our operations to improve production efficiency and eliminate waste. Together with our business segment Presidents, Jim will fully leverage Bombardier’s capabilities to support our long-term growth.”

Mr. Vounassis started his career at Kraft Canada before moving to Pratt and Whitney, where he spent nine years and fulfilled various management roles, including Vice President, Strategic Sourcing from 2007 to 2009. In this position, he developed and implemented an emerging markets strategy that lowered costs while supporting efforts to gain access to new business. As Director, Logistics and Materials Management, he developed lean inventory management strategies and deployed supply base monitoring tools. He also helped to integrate a newly acquired manufacturing campus into Pratt & Whitney’s organization as Deputy Director, Polish Operations, and led a Chinese aircraft component facility as General Manager, SPWAEC Joint Venture.

More recently, Jim Vounassis worked at Baker Hughes, a Houston-based oilfield products, technology and services company from 2009 to 2012, first as Vice President, Strategic Sourcing and Manufacturing Strategy, and then as Vice President, Global Manufacturing. In these roles, he implemented a major transformation across the manufacturing and supply base of the company which decreased cost while increasing customer intimacy and capacity across the global footprint.

Prior to joining Bombardier, Mr. Vounassis was Vice President, Global Operations at Pharmascience, a pharmaceutical company supplying generic and branded products in Canada and around the globe.

Jim Vounassis holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an Executive MBA from Queen’s School of Business.

He will be based at Bombardier’s corporate office in Montreal.