Michelle: So, to start off with, can you give our listeners a little information about your background and how you got started?

Victor: My background, I've had about 20 years of manufacturing experience in multiple different industries, but it's been primarily broken into three industries. So, in food manufacturing, pharmaceutical distribution, and now, in the automotive industry, mostly in engineering and manufacturing capacities. I have my undergrad degree from Alcorn State University, go Braves, in industrial engineering. I got my master's from Cal State Stanislaus. And then I got my executive MBA from Millsaps College. And I've attended multiple classes at Vanderbilt and Tennessee, really focused on people leadership and really development and developing my leadership skills.

But I guess the thing that I'm kind of most proud of, if I look and I sum up the summation of my career, is all the people who have kind of grown with me on the journey. I know a lot of those, some of those individuals still work with me today, here at Nissan, but some of those individuals are taking on different leadership roles and other companies.

Michelle: I know there's so much going on in the automotive industry today. Could you talk a little bit about the obstacles or challenges the automotive industry is facing now?

Victor: We're seeing a real shift, and Nissan is a global company, so we're not just selling cars in the United States. We know we have a global platform and you're seeing a global shift and there's global trends. But then it's also the introduction of technology and AI and how that's utilized in the workplace as well. So, the key thing for us here at Nissan, especially looking [at] Canton is, how do we address that, that global shift?

And then how do we meet the consumer's needs? We talked earlier, before we were videoing, is you also have to anticipate what the customer wants beforehand and you have to start studying trends. And you know, and it's the key factor and that is now social media. You start really looking at what's the trend, what's going to be the new thing, you know, when we start looking at, you know, cars that are more interactive and more engaging with the customers and the consumers.

And then, how do we enhance the technology and the vehicles we build, but taking it a step further, how do we train the workforce of the future to build this new technology? And that's where here in Canton, we're heavily focused on workforce development and getting in the community and really training the leaders of the future.