RICHMOND HILL, Ontario -

Mazda Canada has an interim president to replace Don Romano, who “elected to leave the company," effecitve Tuesday.

Mazda Motor Corp. announced that appointed as interim president is Shusuke "Kory"  Koreeda, who was most recently executive vice president at Mazda Canada. It is expected that Mazda Motor Corp. will approve his appointment to the presidency later in July.

“Kory brings a wealth of North American experience to his new role, and I’m confident that his leadership will guide our Canadian team to even greater success,” said Masahiro Moro, executive officer of global sales & marketing for Mazda Motor Corp.

Koreeda has been with Mazda for 32 years and has held several executive roles with both Mazda Motor Corp. in Japan and Mazda North American Operations in the U.S.

He came to Mazda Canada in 2011 as executive vice president. Before that, Koreeda was general manager of the global marketing division at Mazda Motor Corp., where he led all global marketing activities for the automaker.

Koreeda held several executive posts at MNAO from 2003 to 2009.