Yamaha Marine promotes company veteran to vice president
Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit has appointed Dean Burnett as vice president. In this role, Burnett oversees Yamaha U.S. Marine Development, Advanced Development teams and Yamaha’s Boat Business Unit, which includes the WaterCraft Business Group, G3 Boats and Skeeter Boats. He holds the title of president of Skeeter Products and leads Yamaha’s Connected Division as president of Siren Marine.
A 30-year veteran of Yamaha, Burnett most recently served as president and managing director of Yamaha Motor Canada for three years, where he managed 10 Yamaha product lines for the country. He served as president and managing director of Yamaha Motor Finance Canada for two years. Before his time in Canada, Burnett served as president of the Yamaha WaterCraft Business Group and led the Customer Service and Boat Businesses.
Burnett grew up in the marine business and learned the retail side from his father and uncle at the family marine dealership in Louisville, Kentucky. He worked in many aspects of the business, including parts sales, inventory management, outboard servicing and working local tradeshows. He began his career with Yamaha in 1987 and spent four years in sales and marketing roles in the California market.
Burnett left Yamaha in 1991 and spent the next four years working with Boston Whaler and Grady White as a territory manager. He also held positions with Fenwick Fishing Tackle and Mercury Marine before taking on the role of national sales manager for Skeeter Boats in 1997. He became vice president of sales and marketing in 2001. In January of 2003, Yamaha named Burnett vice president and general manager of Century and Cobia Boats, owned and managed by Yamaha at the time.
In May of 2010, Yamaha appointed Burnett as vice president of Yamaha Marine Group Company. Burnett had a broad range of operational duties within the group, as well as general oversight of the Yamaha Boat Companies and Yamaha Marine Precision Propellers, a division of Yamaha Marine Systems Co., Inc.
