Daimler Trucks North America has appointed Mary Aufdemberg, currently general manager and president of Daimler Trucks Remarketing, as GM of product strategy and market development.

Aufdemberg succeeds 23-year DTNA veteran Kary Schaefer who transitioned to a new role as chief engineer of cab systems/entire vehicle engineering.

Aufdemberg started her career with Daimler in 2004, working in financial services for a subsidiary, before formally joining DTNA in 2008 as the lead for the center of education and marketing at Thomas Built Buses.

In 2012, she accepted an executive management role as director, product marketing for Freightliner, where she was instrumental in launching the New Cascadia and debuting DTNA’s first self-driving concept truck, DTNA officials said in a press release.

She joined DTR in 2017 as the director of acquisitions and operations and was promoted to the role of general manager and president in 2019. Under Aufdemberg’s leadership, the DTR team embarked on an aggressive growth strategy for the SelecTrucks brand, which has added 11 locations during her tenure. 

“Mary has been a driving force behind the unprecedented growth of SelecTrucks and the entire portfolio of activity at Daimler Trucks Remarketing,” said David Carson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at DTNA. “Her proven track record of brand leadership, relentless focus on customer needs, and strong familiarity with our Freightliner and Western Star lineup are a winning combination for supporting our continued sales leadership, and for planning out the future of our product evolution with input from our customers, our dealers and our staff.”

Aufdemberg serves as the executive sponsor of EQUAL, DTNA’s employee business resource group for LGBTQIA, and sits on DTNA’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. Aufdemberg previously served on the board of directors of Women in Trucking for six years (2013-2019) and held the role of chairperson for five of those years.