Profile: Manny De La Fuente

Manny De La Fuente, General Manager, Export Division has been involved with John Deere and equipment for over 40 years. In 1970 he started work with John Deere as a test engineer and in over 32 years with Deere was involved, or had positions, in product support, sales, market management, joint venture negotiations and finance. In the 90’s he held the position of General Manager Product Support, South East Asia with Hitachi Construction Equipment as part of the relationship between John Deere and Hitachi.  After his retirement from Deere, Manny was involved in a number of ventures which included a start-up of a parts export operation in Miami, Florida and the export of cars from China.  In 2011 Manny was given the opportunity to start a new division for Arends Bros, a John Deere dealer for over 80 years.  Arends Bros had always exported equipment but had not split this business out as a full division. Arends Bros later merged with Hogan Walker another John Deere dealer to become AHW LLC.  From 2011, AHW Export has expanded its sales to include over 50 countries.  Over his career, Manny has lived in a number of countries and has traveled to over 75 countries.   Currently he makes regular trips to Africa to work with major AHW accounts.