Roger Nielsen has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) and its affiliated companies Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and Detroit Diesel Corp., effective as of April 1. He succeeds Martin Daum, who became a member of the board of management of Daimler AG responsible for Daimler Trucks and Buses on March 1.

“I am honored and proud to head up this great organization that I have been part of for over 30 years,” Nielsen said. “I look forward to building on the outstanding success achieved by the DTNA team under Martin’s leadership. Together, we will continue our dedication to delivering the best products and services to our North American customers.”

“Roger Nielsen brings a rock-solid product, manufacturing and sales background to this position paired with a razor-sharp focus on technology, quality and customer service. He has an excellent track record as an influential leader in the industry,” Daum commented. “Having worked closely with Roger for so many years, I am certain that DTNA, its people and all its brands are in the best hands.”

Since 2001, Nielsen has been chief operating officer responsible for the entire DTNA manufacturing network, as well as all levels of operations in quality, supplier management, logistics and customer application engineering. In addition, he has overseen Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and DTNA’s improvement programs. In 1986, Nielsen joined DTNA (then Freightliner Corp.) as an Industrial Engineer and since then has held various positions at DTNA in the U.S. as well as at Daimler’s commercial vehicles divisions in Germany.