Mike Doughty Named General Manager Of Motorcycle Operations For Yamaha Motorsports Group

Cypress, CA

Yamaha Motor U.S. President Terry Okawa recently announced the promotion of Mr. Mike Doughty to the position of General Manager of Motorcycle Operations for Yamaha's Motorsports Group. Mike will assume the responsibilities of Dennis McNeal, long time manager of the motorcycle group, who recently retired.

Doughty has been with Yamaha for 27 years and most recently held the position of Regional Business Manager for the South Region.

"I am truly excited about this opportunity at what I consider a pivotal time for the motorcycle industry," said Mike Doughty. "Yamaha has, without a doubt, the best lineup of products in the industry and I believe the future looks very bright indeed for our Yamaha dealers!"

Shortly after assuming his new role, Mike announced a restructuring of the motorcycle operations team to better prepare this segment of Yamaha's business for success into the future.

Derek Brooks, who was previously responsible for all motorcycle product planning operations, has been promoted to the new position of Motorcycle Product Line Manager, and will oversee both new model product planning and marketing.

Chris Peterman, who held responsibilities for national area marketing pertaining to all Yamaha motorsports products, has joined the Motorcycle Group and will oversee wholesale promotions in the newly created Wholesale Operations Manager postion.

David Schaufler, a long-time Yamaha Motorsports District Manager in the South Region, also joined the Motorcycle Group as the Off-Road Motorcycle Media Relations Manager. This addition will allow Marcus DeMichele, who previoulsly held responsibilities for all motorcycle media relations activities, to focus on the street segment and several upcoming very important new model introductions as the Street Motorcycle Media Relations Manager.

Philip Lash, formerly Yamaha's Off-Road Motorcycle Product Planning Manager, has been promoted to Senior Motorcycle Product Planning Manager. Philip will focus on all motorcycle products playing a key role in assisting both Marcus DeMichele and David Schaufler in all media relations activities.

Martin Vivanco, currently the Motorcycle Retail Programs Manager, has been promoted and will have his area of responsibilites expanded to assist the motorcycle operations team with an important focus on key new product launches and their retail success.