Meet the Team Behind Yazaki Innovations

Erik Fleming, President and CEO and member of the Yazaki Innovations Board of Directors, is an accomplished leader with a proven track record of innovation. In his role he assumes comprehensive oversight over all divisions within Yazaki Innovations, which encompass the Emerging Automotive Group, Business Development Group and Venture Scouting Group. His primary responsibilities include furnishing effective leadership, devising strategic plans and objectives, directing operations, and ensuring overall profitability. He has over 26 years of experience in the Automotive, Consumer Electronics and Aerospace industries. He has held management and executive level positions with companies such as Apple, Tesla, SpaceX, Faraday Future and Romeo power. These roles covered Supply Chain, Quality, Operations and Corporate Planning departments.

David Scheffler, Vice President, Emerging Automotive Group, Yazaki Innovations, Inc., joined Yazaki in 1994 as a wiring and electrical systems engineer and progressed to become the Head of Engineering at Yazaki Europe and Yazaki North America. Upon joining Yazaki Innovations, he relocated to Plano, Texas and now oversees all Yazaki business with newer automotive manufacturers and he helps to innovate design and manufacturing solutions with startups and other innovative companies.

Casey is a 29-year Yazaki veteran. He has continuously been at the frontier of Yazaki’s business development activities having lead incubation efforts and created new business opportunities across Japan, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States. He is a seasoned leader of people, program manager and process creator that is well versed in the deep-rooted challenges in a very competitive automotive industry, but also have experience in the energy and construction sectors breaking through the conservative markets with a premium quality and high-priced commodity.

He holds an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of International Business Administration from Reitaku University, Kashiwa Chiba Japan.

Casey is a huge enthusiast of tennis and wine and the marriage of the two distinct aspect of competitive sport nature of tennis and artistic craftmanship and culture of wine.

Mike Tomovich leads Yazaki Innovations engineering and technology activity. He is responsible for the vision, design, strategy, and implementation of new and existing production to support YII’s business. Mike is from Bedford, Pennsylvania, a small town in central PA. Prior to Yazaki, Mike was an entrepreneur and an engineer. After graduating with a MS degree from MIT, Mike started a venture backed startup company called Kuvee, where he was named to Forbes 30 under 30. Mike has worked in robotics, self-driving vehicles, and was most recently VP of Engineering at enVerid, a series B startup company in the air quality and energy space.

Xuong Duong was born in Vietnam and raised in Canton, Michigan. In the first 13 years he worked at the Yazaki North American Headquarters. Currently, Xuong resides in Chandler, Arizona. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Michigan in 2002. He furthered his education with a Master of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 2006. Xuong’s career at Yazaki started in the Nissan group as a Systems Engineer, and he has held positions of increasing responsibility with the GM and Toyota business units before joining Yazaki Innovations, Inc. and being named Head of the Business Development Group.

Doug Johnson joined Yazaki Innovations in 2024. He spent the past 25 years in the fast-paced consumer technology industry working for trade groups, most recently as Vice President, Emerging Technology Policy for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which also owns and produces the CES trade show in Las Vegas.  During his career with CTA and predecessor organizations, he worked with companies ranging from startups and small businesses to large multinational corporations on issues affecting product development, operations, sales and marketing.  He has served as an advocate for the consumer tech industry before regulators and legislators at the local, national, and international levels on matters concerning emerging technology, artificial intelligence, advanced air mobility, drones, energy efficiency, regulatory reform, trade, and policy alignment.  Outside of work, he enjoys time with family and friends, rowing, reading, and traveling.  This year, he visited the Orkney Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Romania for the first time.