STUTTGART, Germany, March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Management of Daimler AG has made the following personnel decisions: Effective June 1, 2009, Martin Daum (49) will become head of Daimler Trucks North America. Martin Daum will replace Chris Patterson, who will reach the age of 55 this year and has chosen to retire after 32 years of service to the North American commercial vehicle industry, 11 of them with Daimler Trucks North America. Daum is currently Head of Operations at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Woerth (Germany).
Andreas Renschler, Head of the Daimler Trucks division: "Chris Patterson has been crucial to our efforts to set the course for the competitiveness of Daimler Trucks North America with competitive products and a comprehensive efficiency program."
Also effective June 1, Dr. Albert Kirchmann (52) will become Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, in which function he will also be President and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation. He will replace Harald Boelstler (58), who is to retire effective June 30, 2009 after a career of over 30 years at the Daimler Group including positions in Germany, Japan and France and four years at Daimler Trucks Asia. Kirchmann is currently Head of Finance & Controlling, Business and Product Planning at Daimler Trucks & Buses.
Andreas Renschler: "Harald Boelstler has posted great achievements with the integration and modernization of Mitsubishi Fuso as well as with successful growth in the markets."
Martin Daum has been at the Daimler Group for more than 20 years and has worked in various areas. After graduating in business administration at the University of Mannheim, he started his career in 1987 in the department of Sales Controlling Overseas at the then Daimler-Benz AG. This was followed by various positions at debis Marketing Services GmbH, before he moved to the United States where he held various management positions at Daimler's commercial vehicles subsidiaries. Upon his return to Germany, Daum became Head of Commercial Vehicles Strategy in Stuttgart, where he was responsible for Trucks Controlling Europe and Latin America, and in 2006 was also made Head of the Woerth plant. In parallel, he was Head of the Unimog and Special Vehicles product unit from 2003 onwards. In both functions, Daum will be succeeded by Yaris Puersuen (40), currently Head of Finance & Controlling Europe and Latin America in Woerth.
Dr. Albert Kirchmann studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe and gained his doctorate in 1984. In the same year, he came to the then Daimler-Benz AG as a trainee. He subsequently held various positions in the Controlling departments of the Woerth and Bremen plants before moving to Mercedes-Benz Spain at the beginning of the nineteen-nineties. Following his return to Germany, he became Head of Strategy and Planning Powertrain in 1997. He subsequently held other leading positions in the area of finance before he was made Head of Finance & Controlling, Business and Product Planning at Daimler Trucks & Buses in 2006. This position will be taken over by Frank Lindenberg (45), who is currently head of Finance Development & Operations.
Photographs of Martin Daum and Dr. Albert Kirchmann can be found on the Internet at http://media.daimler.com/ms/90316/e.
Further information on Daimler is available on the Internet at www.media.daimler.com.
About Daimler
Daimler AG, Stuttgart, with its businesses Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Daimler Financial Services, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Buses, is a globally leading producer of premium passenger cars and the largest manufacturer of heavy- and medium-duty trucks in the world. The Daimler Financial Services division has a broad offering of financial services, including vehicle financing, leasing, insurance and fleet management. Daimler sells its products in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities on five continents. The company's founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, continued to make automotive history following their invention of the automobile in 1886. As an automotive pioneer, Daimler and its employees willingly accept an obligation to act responsibly towards society and the environment and to shape the future of safe and sustainable mobility with groundbreaking technologies and high-quality products. The current brand portfolio includes the world's most valuable automobile brand, Mercedes-Benz, as well as smart, AMG, Maybach, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, Mitsubishi Fuso, Setra, Orion and Thomas Built Buses. The company is listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt, New York and Stuttgart (stock exchange abbreviation DAI). In 2008, the Group sold 2.1 million vehicles and employed a workforce of over 270,000 people; revenue totaled euro 95.9 billion and EBIT amounted to euro 2.7 billion. Daimler is an automotive Group with a commitment to excellence, and aims to achieve sustainable growth and industry-leading profitability.
SOURCE Daimler AG
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