Eurostars 2019

TITLE: Former Chairman
COMPANY: Daimler
BASED: Stuttgart, Germany
AGE: 66
NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Zetsche, who stepped down as Daimler chairman in May, was Germany’s longest serving auto executive with more than 12 years leading the parent of Mercedes-Benz. He joined the automaker’s management board in December 1998. Zetsche took over as head of former Daimler subsidiary Chrysler in 2000. He was promoted to DaimlerChrysler chairman in January 2006. In 2007, he separated Daimler from Chrysler. Zetsche is scheduled to become chairman of Daimler’s supervisory board in 2021.

REASON FOR WINNING 

Zetsche turned Daimler from an unwieldy conglomerate into a company focused on upscale passenger cars and commercial vehicles. One of his key decisions was to sell Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in 2007. With Chrysler gone, Zetsche helped lead a difficult restructuring of Mercedes. The hard work resulted in Mercedes winning back the title of world’s top-selling premium brand from BMW. After slipping behind BMW in 2005, Mercedes passed its rival in 2016, four years ahead of Zetsche’s plan, and has held the lead since.