Jürgen E. Schrempp

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Jürgen Erich Schrempp (born September 15, 1944 in Freiburg) was until December 31, 2005, the CEO of DaimlerChrysler, a German-American car and truck manufacturer. Following a decision of the board taken on July 28, 2005, he was succeeded on January 1, 2006, by Chrysler frontman Dieter Zetsche. Schrempp was the architect of the merger between Daimler Benz and Chrysler, which ultimately ended in failure.

Mr. Schrempp currently resides in Munich, Germany. He is married to Lydia Schrempp, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Mr. Schrempp has two sons, Alexander and Marc, from his previous marriage to Renate Lutz.

Mr. Schrempp’s international experience is the result of long-term assignments in Europe, South Africa and the United States and, over a more than forty-year career, managing a complex and global array of financial, organisational challenges. He has served as Board Member of Mercedes-Benz of South Africa (1980-1982), President of EUCLID Inc., a U.S-based Daimler-Benz subsidiary (1982-1984), President of Mercedes-Benz of South Africa (1985-1987), the Board Member of Daimler-Benz AG responsible for Commercial Vehicles (1987-1989), and Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (1989-1995). He was named Chairman of Daimler-Benz AG in 1995. After the merger with Chrysler Corporation in 1998, he was Co-chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG together with Robert J. Eaton until 2000. Since then, he has been Chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler AG.

Under his leadership, Daimler-Benz made the acquisition of the Chrysler Corporation to become DaimlerChrysler. On the 14th of May, 2007, Daimler sold 80% of Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus.

Before becoming the CEO of Daimler-Benz in 1995, Schrempp headed the aerospace division of Daimler-Benz, then called DASA, which is EADS today. DASA acquired the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker that was already in problems in 1993 after it signed the contract stating the intention to take Fokker over on October 30, 1992. Schrempp called Fokker his "love baby". On January 22, 1996, after having subsidized the losses of Fokker with billions of Deutsche Marks, Daimler-Benz decided to stop putting more money into Fokker that subsequently went bankrupt.

Mr. Schrempp has also been recognized for his civic leadership. He is the recipient of:

Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bavarian Order of Merit
Medal of Merit of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg
Commander of the National Order of Merit of the French Republic
Commander of the French Legion of Honour
The Vatican City’s Cross of the St. Gregorius Order
Austrian Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold with Star for Services
Brazilian Southern Cross.

He is a Director of the South African Coal, Oil and Gas Corporation Ltd., and Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., Switzerland. Additional engagements include the Chairmanship of United Global Academy - UGA, the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank, the European Advisory Board of Harvard Business School, and the German Council of INSEAD.

He was previously a non-executive director of Vodafone Group plc, after their 2000 take over of Mannesman Group.^[1]