Dieter Zetsche

Dieter Zetsche (2018)

Dieter Zetsche (born May 5, 1953 in Istanbul ) is a German manager . From January 1, 2006 to May 22, 2019, he was Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG . He has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TUI AG since May 23, 2019 .

Life

Illustration of Zetsche as “Dr. Z. ”on the Chrysler Building in Auburn Hills

Zetsche's father Herbert was working on a dam project in Turkey . The family returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955 . Dieter Zetsche grew up in Frankfurt-Niederursel until he moved to Oberursel with his family . From 1963 to 1971 he went to Oberursel grammar school , where he graduated from high school and from 1971 to 1976 he studied electrical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe , which is now part of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , with a degree in engineering . From 1976 Zetsche worked in the research department of what was then Daimler-Benz AG . In 1981 he became assistant to the development manager in the commercial vehicles division , and in 1982 he received his doctorate in engineering from the Paderborn University, now the University of Paderborn .

From 1984 he was responsible for coordinating development activities abroad at Daimler-Benz in the commercial vehicle development management. Since 1998 Dieter Zetsche has been a member of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler AG and since 2000 President and Managing Director of DaimlerChrysler Corporation (" Chrysler Group ") in the United States . After years of losses, mainly due to the Asian competition and the discount wars on the American market, the company there managed to get back into the black under his leadership.

On January 1, 2006, Zetsche succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as CEO of the company. His successor as CEO at Chrysler was Thomas LaSorda , who previously held the position of Managing Director.

As Chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler AG, on his initiative, the administration at the corporate headquarters was greatly streamlined and with it "went to where the action is", from Stuttgart-Möhringen to the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim plant . Zetsche was a member of the supervisory board of RWE Power AG from 2009 to 2016 . He has been a member of the TUI Group's Supervisory Board since February 13, 2018.

As part of an advertising campaign for Chrysler, various commercials were broadcast in 2006, in which Zetsche played as Dr. Z. occurs and points out the qualities of the vehicles in a self-deprecating manner. Questions and answers about Chrysler were published on the dedicated website “www.AskDrZ.com”. The campaign designed by BBDO was stopped prematurely because the Americans Dr. Z. most of them thought it was a fictional character and did not sell well.

On February 15, 2010, his wife Gisela died of cancer. The couple had been married for 26 years and had three grown children. In 2013 he had a relationship with presenter Désirée Nosbusch . On October 30, 2016, Zetsche married his French partner Anne.

Since 2011, Zetsche has been donating a Germany Scholarship to his former university (KIT / Universität Karlsruhe) .

In April 2012 it was announced that the value of Zetsche's previously promised pension entitlements was 29.6 million euros. According to a calculation by the “ Spiegel ”, Zetsche therefore takes the top spot among all incumbent board members when it comes to pension payments from the 30 DAX groups .

Due to the circumstances surrounding Eckart von Klaedens' move from the Federal Chancellery to Daimler AG, the Berlin public prosecutor's office initiated an investigation against Zetsche in November 2013 because of the initial suspicion of granting benefits . The preliminary proceedings against Zetsche were initiated by the Berlin public prosecutor on January 26, 2015 in accordance with Section 170 (2) StPO discontinued.

In September 2018 it was announced that Zetsche intends to hand over his position as CEO to Ola Källenius at the end of May 2019 and to take over the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board in 2021 as the successor to Manfred Bischoff . On May 22, 2019, Zetsche handed over the position at the Daimler Annual General Meeting in Berlin. On May 23, 2019, Dieter Zetsche was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the TUI tourism group . Zetsche also took over a position on the advisory board of the discounter Aldi Süd.

Others

Play media file

Interview with Dieter Zetsche at the re: publica 2013: "The networked car - how is our mobility changing"

At the re: publica 2013 there was a conversation between Martin Randelhoff and Dieter Zetsche about the mobility solutions of Daimler AG, especially on the subject of car sharing . As part of this, he also commented on Google's Driverless Car Project and stated that his company was technically on the same level. Zetsche rejected self-driving cars because they were not asked for by customers.

"Complete autonomy will come, but in our opinion it will not be required from the customer's point of view, because many people still enjoy driving."

- Dieter Zetsche : T3N magazine

In December 2014, he was convinced that cars will be fully automated in the 2020s.

"In a few years, cars will move completely freely."

- Dieter Zetsche : Star

Taking in more than 800,000 people in Germany is a Herculean task, said Zetsche in the run-up to the IAA 2015 in Frankfurt am Main. "But in the best case scenario, it can also become a basis for the next German economic miracle."

Positions at Daimler

• CEO, DaimlerChrysler AG in 2006, as in 2007 Daimler AG operates
• Managing Director , Mercedes Car Group 2005
• President and CEO, DaimlerChrysler Corporation (“Chrysler Group”), 2000
• Member of the Board of Management, Commercial Vehicles, DaimlerChrysler AG, 1999
• Member of the Board of Management, Sales, DaimlerChrysler AG, 1998
• Member of the Board of Management, Sales, Daimler-Benz AG, 1997
• Member of the Board of Management, Sales, Mercedes-Benz AG, 1995
• Deputy Board Member, Mercedes-Benz AG, Development Department in the Passenger Car Division, 1992
• President Freightliner Corporation, Portland, Oregon, 1991
• President Mercedes-Benz Argentina, 1989
• Member of the management of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil, 1988
• Head of Development, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil, 1987
• Main consultant construction off-road vehicle and responsibility for development off-road vehicle division, Daimler-Benz AG, 1986
• Development Coordinator, Commercial Vehicle Development Division , Daimler-Benz AG, 1984
• Development assistant, commercial vehicles, Daimler-Benz AG, 1981
• Research area, Daimler-Benz AG, 1976

Awards

Dieter Zetsche at the 2013 electromobility summit in Berlin

• 2005: Industry Leader of the Year of the Automotive Hall of Fame
• 2008: Golden Victoria (The “Entrepreneur Award” of German magazine publishers )
• 2011: Honorary doctorate from Hacettepe University (December 8)
• 2015: German Fire Brigade Cross of Honor in gold

literature

• Dieter Zetsche: The application of modern control technology processes to synthesize an active suspension . University of Paderborn, 1982 (dissertation).
• Jürgen Grässlin : The Daimler disaster. From a model group to a restructuring case? Droemer, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-426-27267-9 .
• Jürgen Grässlin: Worn out ?! The Daimler disaster continues . Knaur, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-426-77977-4 .

Web links

Commons : Dieter Zetsche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dieter Zetsche on the Daimler AG website
• Dieter Zetsche. All articles and backgrounds. In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved December 21, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Simon Hage, Martin Hesse: CEO Zetsche says goodbye: farewell to an alpha animal . In: Spiegel Online . May 22, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 22, 2019]).
2. ^ Directorate Change. Retrieved May 26, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Christoph Müllerleile: Dr. Dieter Zetsche - From successful pupil to sponsor of the school. In: Volker Räuber (Hrsg.): Festschrift 100 years Oberursel high school . Self-published. Oberursel, 2013, p. 194f.
4. ↑ RWE: Daimler boss Zetsche to leave the supervisory board in 2016. Accessed on July 27, 2018 . 
5. ^ TUI Group: CV Dieter Zetsche. Retrieved July 27, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Oliver Wihofszki, Thomas Clark: Goodbye, Dr. Z. ( Memento of 29 September 2007 at the Internet Archive ) In: ftd.de . September 5, 2006, for a fee at the time.
7. ↑ Daimler: Dieter Zetsche mourns his wife Gisela. In: t-online.de. Retrieved September 3, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Group boss Zetsche got married. In: Automobilwoche , November 2, 2016.
9. ↑ KIT Germany Scholarship
10. ↑ Top managers treat themselves to luxury bed & breakfasts. In: Spiegel Online , April 22, 2012.
11. ↑ Klaedens change: Public prosecutor investigates against Daimler board of directors. In: Spiegel Online , November 8, 2013.
12. ^ Public prosecutor's office is investigating Daimler boss Zetsche. In: Wirtschaftswoche , November 8, 2013.
13. ↑ Change at the top of the group: Daimler boss Zetsche should hand over the post in May 2019 . In: Spiegel Online . September 26, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed September 26, 2018]).
14. ↑ Daimler boss Zetsche hands over the wheel: farewell speech at the annual general meeting. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Tour operator: Ex-Daimler boss Zetsche leads the supervisory board at Tui. Retrieved May 24, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Susanne Preuß: Zetsche goes to Aldi Süd. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung online. Retrieved August 23, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Daimler boss Zetsche: "We are on the same level as Google"
18. ↑ "I will be very relaxed when the car drives alone"
19. ↑ Dieter Zetsche: “Refugees could bring economic miracles” In: FAZ , September 15, 2015.
20. ↑ Magazine publishers name Zetsche Entrepreneur of the Year. ddp Deutscher Depeschendienst GmbH, November 10, 2008, accessed on November 11, 2008.
21. ↑ Fire department honors Daimler boss Dr. Dieter Zetsche. In: feuerwehrverband.de. Retrieved March 26, 2017 .