Appointments at John Deere

Graham Williams has left Langar to replace Joe Weegenaar as international marketing & sales director for the commercial & consumer equipment (C&CE) division, based in Mannheim, Germany. Graham will be responsible for continuing to drive the growth and profitability of Deere's international business.

As C&CE division sales manager of the UK & Ireland branch at Langar, Nottingham since 1993, Graham oversaw a fivefold growth in the groundscare business, making this the largest C&CE branch outside North America.

Graham attended both Lackham and the West of Scotland agricultural colleges, obtaining an NDAgE. He joined John Deere Limited as a territory manager in 1979, and became sales promotion manager in 1987.

Pieter Nel succeeds Graham Williams as C&CE division sales manager for the UK and Ireland, based at Langar. Pieter originally joined the branch last year as business development manager from John Deere (PTY) Limited in Nigel, South Africa, where he served as manager, product support. Pieter joined John Deere in South Africa in 1989 as a territory manager and was appointed manager, product support in 1993.

Keith Clayphan succeeds Pieter Nel as business development manager for John Deere Limited. In this position Keith will supervise the company's complete goods department, and will be the branch expert in process management, working with all departments.

He will also lead the development and implementation of quality initiatives such as ISO certification, and will be responsible for managing and coordinating the branch's Internet activities.

Keith returns to Langar from Deere & Company's corporate headquarters in Moline, where he was a project manager on the order fulfilment team. Before this, Keith served in the UK as an agricultural territory manager, industrial territory manager, agricultural division sales manager and manager of distribution & market support.

Keith also spent three years as the manager of an agricultural dealership. He has a BSc in Agricultural Science from the University of Nottingham, and is a certified internal assessor for the European Foundation for Quality Management.