Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) has announced a realignment of its executive management team designed to address new opportunities in the pre-owned/remarketing areas, capitalize on the company's record sales momentum and further improve customer loyalty.

"We are looking to more closely align MBUSA to take full advantage of consumer, dealer and market opportunities. With a strong growth portfolio of new models and new brands, we are looking to optimize our new and preowned vehicle business operations." said Paul Halata, president and CEO for MBUSA.

To take advantage of the tremendous growth in the pre-owned vehicle market, MBUSA says it will create a new executive-management-level position to oversee all pre-owned vehicle, Starmark and corporate fleet activities. Dave Schembri, formerly vice president of marketing for MBUSA will head up that area as vice president of pre-owned and fleet operations.

Schembri's automotive career began in 1975 with American Motors, and in 1979 he joined Volkswagen of America, where he held key positions including director of marketing for VWoA and director of operations for VW Credit Corporation.

Schembri joined MBUSA in 1994 and served as general manager in key MBUSA regions overseeing retail operations during a period of significant growth. In 1999, he was promoted to vice president of sales - west, a position responsible for the Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles regions. He was named vice-president of marketing in 2001.

"As a pioneer in pre-owned vehicle sales, we see opportunity to further capitalize on our Starmark program both from the business side in terms of profitability and building customer loyalty as well as bringing younger buyers to the brand. The pre-owned business has moved from a 'nice-to-have' to a 'have-to-have' and has therefore become a top priority in MBUSA's and our dealers' business plans looking forward. With his 28 years of dealer, consumer, financial and operational experience -- the past eight of them with us -- Dave is the ideal person to synchronize all aspects of our pre-owned activities, build upon our relationship with Mercedes-Benz Credit Corporation and implement an aggressive growth strategy. "

Replacing Dave Schembri as vice president of marketing for MBUSA will be Michelle Cervantez. She was most recently global process and strategy manager, automotive strategy, for Ford Motor Company with responsibility for shaping brand strategy throughout global markets.

Cervantez began her career at Ford in 1988 with a variety of customer service and field responsibilities at various locations across the country. In 1994, she moved to Michigan where she held a series of positions with increasing responsibilities in product planning and marketing communications. From 1997 to 2000, she served as Lincoln LS brand development manager, corporate advertising manager and Trustmark marketing manager before becoming vice president of marketing for Jaguar Cars North America in 2000.

According to Halata, "With her 15 years of automotive experience including launching new products, overseeing marketing campaigns, global branding and leading corporate strategic initiatives, Michelle brings unique qualifications to our overall marketing initiative."

Keith May, vice president of sales for MBUSA since August 2001, will take on the additional responsibility for vehicle distribution and strategic volume planning. The new responsibilities will effectively consolidate all tactical and strategic sales operations to better anticipate and meet current and future retail needs.

May has 18 years of marketing, wholesale- and retail-level experience with the Mercedes-Benz brand. He came to the United States from the United Kingdom in May 2000 as vice president of sales for the midwest and northeast regions. He became vice president of sales at the company's Montvale, NJ headquarters in August 2001.

Said Halata, "Obviously, with the enormous growth we've experienced -- new model lines, new segments, new brands -- we have got to take a very forward-looking and comprehensive approach to our sales going forward. With 17 years experience with Mercedes-Benz retail operations, Keith is ideally suited to help us build upon our momentum and take advantage of new opportunities."

All three executives report directly to Halata as officers of the company.

Mercedes-Benz USA, headquartered in Montvale, N.J., is responsible for the sales, service and marketing of Mercedes-Benz products in the United States. The company employs approximately 1,500 people in 20 locations across the U.S. Mercedes-Benz sold 213,225 vehicles in the U.S. during 2002.