Business News

TriMas Announces Tom Benson as President of Cequent Towing & Trailer Products

Monday 17. November 2008 - Integration of Towing, Trailer and Electrical Business Units

TriMas Corporation (NYSE:TRS) — a diversified growth company of specialty niche businesses — today announced that it is consolidating its Towing, Trailer and Electrical products businesses into one strategic business unit under a single management team. Thomas “Tom” Benson has been appointed President of Cequent Towing and Trailer Products effective immediately and will report directly to Edward Schwartz, TriMas Executive Vice President.

This integration will streamline and improve service to Cequent customers, while proactively ensuring cost competitiveness. All functional areas of the three business units, including sales, manufacturing, distribution and back-office functions, will be combined. Product management and engineering will remain product line focused.

Benson has most recently served as President of Towing Products and, in this capacity, has been instrumental in growing the company’s reputation as a market leader, as well as driving operational improvements in the business. Benson has almost twenty-five years of experience serving these related markets. During his tenure at TriMas, Benson has led successful profit and productivity improvement programs, product and channel growth initiatives and integration of acquired businesses and product lines.

“This integration will strengthen our position in the marketplace, as well as support our efforts to increase productivity and leverage our cost structure,” commented Ed Schwartz. “Tom’s substantial experience in this industry will be a great asset as we strive to drive focus, improved operational performance and more efficient customer support within these businesses.”