Hertz Global Holdings Inc. announced Tuesday that Robert J. Stuart, senior vice president of global sales, will direct the company's global car sharing business, Connect by Hertz.

Launched in December 2008, Connect by Hertz provides car sharing services in London, New York City and Paris as well as on 20 college campuses and at several corporate campuses in the U.S. and U.K.

Hertz also announced that Griff Long, senior director of global car sharing, who is responsible for Connect operations in the U.S., will assume operational responsibility for Connect's European operations as well, reporting to Stuart.

Mark P. Frissora, chairman and chief executive officer, commenting on Stuart's increased responsibilities, said, "We have successfully launched Connect by Hertz in three large target markets — urban, university and corporate — and the keys to future growth are a much larger membership base and turning Connect members into repeat customers. Under Bob Stuart's direction, we will be able to leverage the global sales team at Hertz to drive Connect's growth, increasing our already significant presence in the car sharing market, and enabling us to make customer demand based decisions about future car sharing investments."

Stuart joined Hertz in 2007, after seven years in senior sales and marketing management positions at General Electric. Prior to that, he spent 13 years in sales management positions at The Halex Company and Philips Lighting Company.