SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- RouteOne LLC announced that effective immediately, four of the top six officers who had been on "loan" from the captive finance arms of DaimlerChrysler Services, Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. have resigned from those companies to remain full-time RouteOne employees.

Mike Jurecki, RouteOne president and chief executive officer, and Dan Doman, the company's general counsel, had been with Ford Credit and in the industry for almost two decades. Joel Gruber, RouteOne's chief information officer, had been with Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler Services for 21 years. Brad Rogers, RouteOne's vice president of sales and marketing, had worked at Toyota Financial since 1993.

"It's a tribute to the concept and the potential of RouteOne that these executives have agreed to give up successful careers with the automotive manufacturers' finance companies to continue the launch and ongoing operations of RouteOne," said Paul Knauss, chief financial officer for DaimlerChrysler Services North America LLC and RouteOne board chairman. "It's a strong signal to our dealer and finance source partners that the people who know RouteOne better than anyone are willing to stay and continue to build the success of RouteOne."

"It was a tough decision for all of us," said Jurecki. "We had excellent careers at our respective companies, but the strength of the team here and the reality of what we're making happen at RouteOne was a strong draw for each of us. We not only want to see it through, we want to help RouteOne achieve our vision of being the online credit application and contract provider of choice for the automotive industry. As a group, we're confident that's where we're headed."

Two former RouteOne executives have returned, as planned, to their careers at DaimlerChrysler Services and GMAC. Kelly Mankin, former RouteOne COO, is returning to DaimlerChrysler Services as vice president, Chrysler Brands Marketing, where he remains responsible for RouteOne's successful launch to Chrysler Group dealers. Former RouteOne CFO Mary Cunningham returned to GMAC at a director level within the finance staff. Replacing Cunningham as chief financial officer is Janice Basile, formerly a senior manager with Deloitte & Touche USA LLP.

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