Mazak Expands Leadership Roles to Support Growing Sales

To meet the needs of North American manufacturers, Mazak Corp. has made some organizational changes aimed at better supporting its North American customers.

Chuck Birkle, who will continue in his role as vice president of sales and marketing, will oversee the Midwest, Southwest, West and Mexico regions. Greg Papke will manage the North Central, Northeast and Southeast regions, playing a greater role in the marketing of Kentucky-produced models. Meanwhile, Terry Peer, previously sales manager for Southern Ohio, will replace Mr. Papke as general manager for the North Central region.

“Chuck, Terry and Greg are all homegrown talent who’ve spent most or all of their careers with Mazak,” says President Dan Janka. “We feel confident that with these changes, we have an even stronger team, one that can create more opportunities for our North American customers.”

As the vice president for sales and marketing, Mr. Birkle has been a key figure in Mazak’s efforts to educate manufacturers about the company’s advanced machine tools. In addition to the new regions he will oversee, he will focus on many of the company’s five-axis, multi-tasking and Palletech systems.

A member of the 1990 summer trainee program at Mazak, Greg Papke returned to the company shortly after completing his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University. Prior to his current role, Greg worked in the company’s Kentucky factory in the machining and assembly areas and most recently as the North Central region general manager.

Mr. Peer first joined Mazak in 1996 as a part-time assembly worker while completing his undergraduate education at Northern Kentucky University. After earning his degree, he entered the company’s rotational training program prior to becoming a product specialist, account manager, distributor sales manager and direct sales manager in Southern Ohio.