Westport Innovations announced that Nancy Gougarty has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Westport after resigning her position on the company's board of directors. The change in roles for Gougarty is part of Westport's progression from research and development into an organization focussed on the global commercialization of a wide range of products.

Gougarty has extensive business experience in the global automotive industry. Originally appointed to the Westport board of directors in February 2013, she served as the vice president for TRW Automotive Corp. for Asia-Pacific, with responsibility for profit and loss, from January 2008 to 2012. TRW sales for Asia-Pacific were reported at $2.3 billion in 2011. Her previous positions included vice president of product planning, business planning and business development.

She has held high-profile leadership positions in the automotive sector, including managing director for General Motors' joint venture in Shanghai, director for Delphi Packard Asia Pacific, global cccount director General Motors, and vice president for Delphi Automotive Systems, Japan and Korea.