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Dieter Zetsche (; born 5 May 1953) is a German engineer and business executive. He serves as the chairman of
TUI AG TUI AG ( trading as TUI Group) is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known ...
. Zetsche was the chairman of the board of management at
Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...
and the head of
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
until 22 May 2019, a position he held since 2006. Additionally, he had been a member of Daimler's board since 1998.


Early life and education

Zetsche was born in Turkey while his father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily there for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. He attended school in
Oberursel Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...
(near
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
) and studied
electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from 1971 to 1976 at the
University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...
; he graduated as an engineer. He completed his doctorate in engineering in 1982 at the
University of Paderborn Paderborn University () is a public research university in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter semester 2016/2017 in 62 different degree programmes. ...
.


Career


Daimler

Zetsche joined the research department of
Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...
in 1976, and became assistant development manager at the Vehicles business unit in 1981. He became a member of Daimler Chrysler's board of management in 1998 and was the president and CEO of Chrysler Group from mid-2000 to 31 December 2005, where he was credited with a turnaround of DCX's American operations. Since 1 January 2006, he succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as chairman of DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), being succeeded in the position of Chrysler Group CEO by Thomas W. LaSorda. Zetsche was the main influence behind the demerger of Daimler and
Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
in 2007, which ended in the newly formed
Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...
. Following profit warnings in 2012 and 2013, weak sales in China and tensions with Daimler's powerful labour representatives, his contract was renewed for only three years instead of the expected five.Andy Sharman (April 1, 2015)
Daimler set to reward Dieter Zetsche with extended contract
''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
''.
He received €14.4 million in pay and bonuses in 2014, making him the second-highest paid employee at a listed German company. After a record year for car sales and revenue in 2015, Zetsche's contract was extended to 2019. Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to Mercedes-Benz, in an effort to turn around a decade-long downward spiral in product quality and customer satisfaction. He was named in ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine's 2006 list of 100 most influential people. On the invitation of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
’s leadership, Zetsche was invited to address the 2016 party conference. In September 2018, it was announced that Zetsche will step down as the company's CEO in May 2019, in compliance of a two-year-long hiatus regulatory rule, before becoming chairman of Daimler's supervisory board in 2021, succeeding Manfred Bischoff.


Ask Dr. Z campaign

On 30 June 2006 Chrysler Group announced the Employee Pricing Plus program, which featured Dieter Zetsche as Dr. Z (Doctor ''Zee''), the DaimlerChrysler spokesman for a series of US and Canadian
television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
s, also animated in cartoon format on the company's Ask Dr. Z website, which began on 1 July. The "Ask Dr. Z" campaign included television, radio, print, online, in-dealership and customer relationship marketing media components and aggressive marketing tactics (mobile billboards, aerial banners, street teams), as well as targeting the NASCAR fan community. In the "Ask Dr. Z"
ad campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...
he provides answers to customers' questions and exits by saying ''Auf Wiedersehen'' (German for "goodbye" or "see you again"). The ad campaign emphasized the consumer benefits of combined American and German engineering and design. One commercial included Zetsche riding in a
Jeep Liberty The Jeep Liberty is a four door unibody compact SUV manufactured and marketed by Jeep for model years 2002–2012 over two generations, internally designated the KJ (2002–2007) and KK (2008–2012), respectively. Both generations were marketed ...
while crossing a pile of logs; another showed him in the trunk of a
Dodge Caravan The Dodge Caravan is a series of minivans manufactured by Chrysler from the 1984 through 2020 model years. The Dodge version of the Chrysler minivans, was marketed as both a passenger van and a cargo van (the only version of the model line offe ...
minivan, heading a soccer ball; and the last showed him at the wheel of a
Chrysler Pacifica Chrysler Pacifica is a nameplate used by Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacture ...
during a
crash test A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation (see automobile safety) or related systems and compon ...
, then emerging from the wreckage unscathed. The campaign was criticized for having the wrong guy for doing funny ads. CNW Marketing Research poll showed most people thought Dr. Z was a fictional character, did not notice the employee discount offer in the ads and radio commercial listeners had difficulty understanding his German accent. DaimlerChrysler hurriedly withdrew the Dr. Z campaign three months later, due to a significant loss in market share. However, some of the Dr. Z ads were still seen on Canadian television. In later broadcasts, the tagline in Dr. Z TV ads was changed to "See the best in German and North American design in your Dodge and Chrysler dealer." As a response to shrinking sales, its employee pricing plus program was extended through the end of August and three new TV ads, which did not feature Dr. Z, were added to the August campaign.


Test track death accident lawsuit

In the autumn of 2011, Zetsche was investigated for the
involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
of a 27-year-old engineer who died in an accident caused by an intern on one of the firm's test tracks. The newspaper ''
Stuttgarter Zeitung The () is a German language, German-language daily newspaper (except Sundays) edited in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with a run of about 200,000 sold copies daily. History and profile It was first edited on 18 September 1945, just ...
'' reported earlier that the parents of the engineer felt the company should not have put the intern behind the wheel of a fast car on a test track. However, it was generally agreed that the public prosecutors were over-reaching their prosecutorial authority in holding Zetsche responsible, as he was not responsible in any way for regulating the limits of interns' activities while at the company.


TUI AG

In February 2018, before the announcement of his departure from Daimler, in the annual general meeting held by tourism company
TUI AG TUI AG ( trading as TUI Group) is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known ...
, Zetsche was elected as a member of the supervisory board. In May, he was elected chairman of TUI’s Supervisory Board.


Other activities (selection)


Corporate boards

* TUI Group, Chair of the Supervisory Board (since 2019) * Aldi Süd, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2019) *
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
, Member of the European Advisory Board (2006–present) * RWE, Member of the Supervisory Board (2009–2016)


Non-profit organizations

* Federation of German Industries (BDI), Member of the Presidium (2018–2019) * Deutscher Zukunftspreis, Member of the Board of Trustees * German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Vice President of the Managing Board *
European Automobile Manufacturers Association The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (; abbreviated ACEA) is the main lobbying and standards group of the automobile industry in the European Union. In February 1991 it became the successor of the CCMC manufacturers committee () wh ...
(ACEA), Member of the Board of Directors *
European School of Management and Technology The European School of Management and Technology, also known as ESMT Berlin, is a private non-profit business school based in Berlin, Germany. The business school was founded in 2002 by 25 companies and institutions and offers a range of Master o ...
(ESMT), Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chairman of the International Advisory Council * Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG), Member of the Board of Trustees *
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
, Member of the International Advisory Council *
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft – or Stifterverband for short – is a registered not-for-profit association that is based in Essen and which also has a capital city office in Berlin. Its work is focused on education, science and in ...
, Member of the Board * Turkey: Culture of Change Initiative (TCCI), Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Turkey: Culture of Change Initiative (TCCI).


References


External links



at Daimler * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zetsche, Dieter 1953 births Living people Chrysler executives Mercedes-Benz Group executives DaimlerChrysler German chief executives German automotive engineers German electrical engineers Businesspeople from Stuttgart TUI Group people Paderborn University alumni Engineers from Hesse Mercedes-Benz in Formula One