Hatteras Yachts names Wade Watson Chief Operating Officer

Hatteras/Cabo Yachts, LLC announced that Wade Watson has joined the company as chief operating officer. Reporting directly to Hatteras President and CEO John Ward, Wade will oversee daily operations at Hatteras’ manufacturing plant in New Bern, N.C., with a focus on improving manufacturing operations. Wade has more than 20 years of manufacturing, aftermarket, quality control and management experience.

Wade’s previous experience includes several years working for Volvo AB, most recently as vice president and general manager of its Mack Trucks division. Prior to that, he served as vice president of operations of Volvo Powertrain – North America, where he previously had served as vice president of quality and customer satisfaction.

Wade said joining Hatteras brings together two of his lifelong passions – the pursuit of excellence and a love of boating.

“I am extremely excited to join the Hatteras Team in New Bern,” he said. “I spent most of my formative years in Florida living on the Gulf Coast and have been on or around boats for much of my life. My professional life has been mainly driven by leading complex operations on journeys to operational excellence.”

One of Wade’s first goals at Hatteras is to improve operating efficiencies through systematic waste elimination, as well as building upon the strengths of Hatteras’ talented workforce to shorten lead-times from order to delivery.

“My experience as an operations leader within the global automotive sector has afforded me the opportunity to learn best practices from all over the world,” he said. “The combination of the time-tested craftsmanship for Hatteras with the latest operations/manufacturing techniques should prove to be an unbeatable combination. It is a real honor to be a part of such an iconic brand at such an exciting moment in its history.”

“We are excited to have Wade on our management team,” said Ward. “His dedication to operational excellence, combined with his love of boating, will serve us well. I look forward to continued growth at Hatteras with him by my side.”

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One Comment

  1. Reading trough the article, considering that Wade had the same position in Volvo at the truck division for 20 years means that he knows his trade. The only thing that wasn’t specified is the reason why he switched from Volvo to Hatteras, I’ll dismiss the thought that he had problems and his career decision is based on his passion. After all he said that he spen’t most of his life in Florida and he was already on many yachts. He must’ve fall in love with yachts! Ha! Ha! Ha! Now looking at it he just figured a way to combine his work with his increasing passion towards yachts. That’s the way to go! I bet that things are very exciting for him in this moment. He can do what he knows how to do best in his area of interest surrounded by new people. I feel happy for him.

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