Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, has been named to head the Daimler’s global trucks and bus operations. On Feb. 27, the Supervisory Board of Germany-based Daimler AG appointed Daum, 57, as the Board of Management member with responsibility for the Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses divisions.

Daum's appointment, effective March 1, is for a term of five years. He will succeed Wolfgang Bernhard, who resigned from the board earlier this month.

In June, 2009, Daum was tasked with leading Daimler Trucks North America and its affiliated companies, including Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation and Detroit Diesel Corporation. Before that, he was a member of the management of Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Europe as vice president-- production for Mercedes-Benz Trucks. At the same time, he was responsible for the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth, the world’s biggest truck plant. He started his career in the trainee executive group of   Daimler-Benz AG in 1987.

“With Martin Daum, we are appointing a very successful and experienced executive to the Board of Management as Head of the Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses divisions,” said Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG. “He looks back on 20 years of experience in the industry and knows the cyclical commercial-vehicle business from all perspectives. We are convinced that he will successfully meet the upcoming challenges in the next years, continue along the successful path of Daimler Trucks & Buses and further strengthen their worldwide leading positions.”

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, noted that with Daum’s international management experience, “the right course is being set at the top of Daimler Trucks & Buses for the long term.

The company stated that the “important commercial-vehicle business in the U.S. and in the NAFTA region has developed very successfully under the leadership of Martin Daum and is of key importance to the Daimler Group.” 

Daimlr AG has made no mention yet of who will be appointed to succeed Daum as chief executive of Daimler Trucks North America.

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