Plecas named communications manager at VW Chattanooga
Volkswagen of America on Monday named Amanda Plecas as manager of communications for Volkswagen Chattanooga.
Plecas will lead external and internal communications for the factory and will report into the Volkswagen of America communications department.
Previous to this role, Plecas managed the team and led creative services for the Chattanooga-based Waterhouse Public Relations Agency.
Prior to Waterhouse, Plecas was the communications and government relations manager for Wacker Polysilicon North America. Outside of Volkswagen, Amanda will continue her work as a part-time faculty member at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, where she teaches public relations writing and crisis communication courses.
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Amanda to the team,” said Pietro Zollino, executive vice president of communications of Volkswagen Group of America Inc. “Amanda’s extensive experience and background make her the ideal choice to lead the communications initiatives of the Chattanooga plant.”
New home sales rise 6.7 percent in May
Sales of new U.S. homes jumped 6.7 percent in May, with purchases in the South accounting for all of the monthly gains.
The Commerce Department said Monday that new homes sold last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 689,000, up from 646,000 in April. The South reported monthly sales growth of 17.9 percent, while sales were flat in the Midwest and fell in the Northeast and West.
For the first five months of this year, new-home sales have risen 8.8 percent as a solid job market and shortage of existing homes on the market have boosted demand. In a sign that buyers are eagerly seeking out properties among a diminished inventory, there was a 17.4 percent surge last month in the sale of homes before construction begins.
“With fewer buying options among existing homes, homebuyer demand is shifting towards new builds,” said Ben Ayers, senior economist at the insurance company Nationwide.
Gray Television merging with Raycom
Gray Television Inc. and Raycom Media Inc. are announcing a merger that would create the third-largest television broadcast group in the United States.
Georgia-based Gray and Alabama-based Raycom said Monday that they’ve entered into an agreement to combine the companies in a $3.6 billion deal.
The combined operation would have more than 140 television stations serving 92 markets, the companies said in a statement. The communities range from large TV markets such as Cleveland and Tampa-Sarasota, Florida, to small markets such as Ottumwa, Iowa, and Presque Isle, Maine.
Raycom subsidiary Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. is not part of the deal, as Raycom has begun the process of selling or spinning off CNHI, according to the statement.
GE selling powerunit to Advent
GE is selling its distributed power unit to Advent International for $3.25 billion as it continues to shed businesses.
The deal includes distributed power’s Jenbacher and Waukesha engines and manufacturing sites in Austria, Canada and the U.S.
The distributed power business had 2017 sales of $1.32 billion and has about 3,000 workers.The deal is expected to close by the fourth quarter.
GE Chairman and CEO John Flannery was tasked last year with reshaping the Boston company. GE has shrunk dramatically since it became entangled in the financial crisis a decade ago, and Flannery has vowed to shed $20 billion in assets quickly.