Westport Innovations, a provider of natural gas engine technology, has appointed Nancy Gougarty to its board of directors, effective as of Feb. 8.

Gougarty, who joined TRW Automotive in 2005, most recently served as vice president for the company's operations in the Asia-Pacific region from January 2008 through 2012. Her previous positions at TRW Automotive include vice president of product planning, business planning and business development, as well as vice president of braking, electronics and modules for Asia-Pacific.

Gougarty's appointment increases the board's size to 10 members.

New Advisory Committee

TRW Automotive also announced the creation of an advisory board “to increase Westport's depth and breadth of industry experience outside of the board of directors' core scope of responsibilities.”

The inaugural members of that advisory board are as follows:

Joseph Caron: Caron began his international relations career in 1972 as a member of the Trade Commissioner Service. From 2001 to 2005, he served as Canadian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China with concurrent accreditation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Mongolia. In 2005, he was named Canadian Ambassador to Japan, and served as High Commissioner to the Republic of India in 2008.

Brenda Eprile: Eprile has been managing director at boutique consulting firm Sanford Eprile & Company since 2012. From 2000 to 2012, Eprile was a senior partner at PwC and head of the risk advisory services practice. From 1998 to 2000, Eprile was a partner at Deloitte and created a regulatory advisory practice for the Canadian member firm of Deloitte focusing on public companies and financial services firms. Earlier in her career, Eprile held the positions of both executive director and chief accountant at the Ontario Securities Commission, and also formerly was an audit staff member at Coopers and Lybrand.