Navistar’s board appointed Mathias Carlbaum as the new CEO and President of Navistar International, effective Sept. 1. He will succeed Persio Lisboa, who will retire. 

Since April 2021, Carlbaum has been leading the post-merger management of Navistar on behalf of the Traton Group. German-based Traton Group completed its merger with Navistar as of July 1.

Previously, Carlbaum served as executive vice president of commercial operations at Scania. 

In his 35 year-long tenure with the company and particularly in his recent roles as COO and CEO (since July 2020), Persio Lisboa was “instrumental in returning Navistar to profitability and launching and executing a solid strategy called Navistar 4.0,” Navistar officials said. 

To reflect the existing corporate governance of other Traton Group companies, Navistar’s board also appointed a newexecutive board. Effective Sept. 1, the board will be made up of Carlbaun and five other members:

• Walter Borst continues to be chief financial officer until he transitions his role to Do Young Kim on Jan. 1, 2022. It is intended that Borst will continue to serve as a member of Navistar’s Board of Directors thereafter. In his current function, Do Young Kim had been the project lead for Traton’s IPO and the merger with Navistar. 

• Michael Grahe, formerly chief technology officer of the Traton Group, will head operations, which covers the areas of product development and procurement. Current president of operations, Phil Christman, will remain at Navistar until March 2022 to oversee Mexico and Brazil, as well as transition related tasks.

• Donna Dorsey will retain responsibility for people and culture.

• Friedrich Baumann remains responsible for sales, marketing and aftersales. 

• Mark Hernandez will be also appointed to the executive board, responsible for manufacturing.

Since September 2016, Traton and Navistar’s “strategic alliance” has generated significant added value for both companies due to higher purchasing power and the integration of new technologies, Navistar officials said in a press release. At the start of 2020, Traton submitted an initial offer to acquire all of the ordinary shares in Navistar. A binding merger agreement was signed in November 2020. The merger was closed on July 1.