| Dr. Dieter Zetsche | |
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| Born | May 5, 1953 Istanbul, Turkey |
Dr. Dieter Zetsche (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German businessman and CEO of Daimler AG, Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars as well as Chairman of the Board of Management.
His father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily in Turkey for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. Dieter Zetsche attended school in Oberursel (near Frankfurt am Main) and studied electrical engineering from 1971 to 1976 at the University of Karlsruhe; he graduated as an engineer. He joined Daimler-Benz in 1976, working in the research department. In 1981, he became Assistant Development Manager at the Vehicles business unit. He completed his doctorate in engineering in 1982 at the University of Paderborn.
He became a member of the DaimlerChrysler's Board of Management in 1998 and served the President/CEO of Chrysler Group from mid of 2000 to December 31, 2005. Since January 1, 2006, he succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as Chairman of Daimler Chrysler (now Daimler AG), leaving the position of CEO of Chrysler Group.
He was the main influence behind the separation of Daimler from Chrysler in 2007 which ended in the newly formed Daimler AG.
Dieter Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to the Mercedes-Benz company in an effort to turn around a decade long downward spiral in product quality and customer satisfaction. He was named in Time Magazine's 2006's list of 100 most influential people.