Winnebago celebrates sales successes, lures exec from Fleetwood

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Winnebago Industries has appointed a sales executive it lured from a competitor and identified its top-selling dealers for 2011. In addition to acknowledging the most prolific sellers of Winnebago and Itasca motor homes, awards also have been given out to the best Canadian dealers, the No. 1 rental dealer and new dealer of the year for both brands.

This year’s award winners:

• Top Dealer North America – Winnebago Industries – Lazydays, Seffner, Fla.
• Top Dealer North America – Winnebago – Lazydays, Seffner, Fla.
• Top Dealer North America – Itasca – V.R. Emond, St-Nicolas, QC.
• Top Winnebago Dealer – Western Area – McMahon’s RV, Irvine, Calif.
• Top Winnebago Dealer – Eastern Area – Lazydays, Seffner, Fla.
• Top Itasca Dealer – Western Area – Village RV, Roseville, Calif.
• Top Itasca Dealer – Eastern Area - V.R. Emond, St-Nicolas, QC.
• Top Winnebago Dealer - Canada – VR St-Cyr – St-Mathieu De Beloeil, QC.
• Top Itasca Dealer – Canada – V.R. Emond, St-Nicolas, QC.
• Top Rental Dealer – Great Alaskan Holidays, Anchorage, Alaska.
• New Dealer of the Year – Winnebago – RCD Sales, Pataskala, Ohio.
• New Dear of the Year – Itasca – La Mesa RV, Sanford, Fla.

In addition to these awards, 116 dealers have been honored with the Circle of Excellence award in recognition of their excellence in customer satisfaction.

And on Friday, Winnebago named Wallace “Wally” Ballard district sales manager, replacing Tom Neal, who retired after working four decades for the company.

In his new position, Ballard (pictured) will manage sales for Winnebago, Itasca and ERA motor homes and recruit and train dealers in Texas, where he lives.

Ballard most recently was district sales manager for Fleetwood RV, an upscale maker of motor homes. He was in that position for seven years. Before that he was district sales manager with CIT Group.

Ballard earned a bachelor of science degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, where he grew up. He and his wife, Shelley, live in Hurst, Texas.

You can reach TorqueNews.com’s Hawke Fracassa at hawkefracassa@aol.com.

Image source: Winnebago