Daimler Truck Holding AG has appointed Karin Radström as its next CEO. This is the rare appointment of a girl to go one in every of Germany’s largest listed corporations.
She will take up the position next month and her term will run until January 2029, the corporate announced on Wednesday. The 45-year-old succeeds Martin Daum, who will remain a member of the Board of Management until the top of this 12 months “to support a smooth handover,” Daimler Truck said.
Radstrom will likely be only the second female CEO of a DAX 40 company, following Belen Garijo, the pinnacle of the pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaAAlthough Germany is internationally thought to be a progressive country when it comes to gender parity, the country has one in every of the most important wage gaps between men and girls in Europe.
Radstrom, a former elite rower who competed internationally for her native Sweden, joined the Board of Management of Daimler Truck in 2021 and has since been answerable for Mercedes-Benz Trucks, where she is credited with improving customer support.
During Radstrom’s tenure, Mercedes-Benz Trucks was in a position to increase its profit margins whilst the corporate invested heavily within the transition to zero-emission trucks. The company is banking on each hydrogen-powered and battery-powered models as future alternatives to combustion engines.
“The trained engineer has successfully transformed the segment profitably within a short period of time and driven its transformation towards sustainability,” the corporate said. She has presented a series of recent battery-electric trucks, the statement said.
Radstrom rose to prominence at Scania CV AB, Daimler Truck’s Swedish competitor. Insiders often point to her popularity amongst employees, her consensus-oriented leadership style and her give attention to the transition to zero-emission logistics.
Her appointment comes at a turbulent time for German industry. Rising rates of interest and better energy prices for the reason that Russian invasion of Ukraine are putting a strain on investment budgets and making it difficult to take a position in recent assets corresponding to trucks.
The growing shortage of qualified engineers – the results of a demographic crisis that has developed over many years – can be increasing production costs in Germany.
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