Long-term Chrysler product manager Joe Veltri is set to take over the group’s investor relations department as part of a number of changes to the company’s upper management.
Veltri will assume his new responsibilities from July 1. He is currently head of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) product planning for the group, a role he has overseen since October 2009.
Joe Veltri
Former product manager to take over as head of IR
The moves were announced this week as Fiat, the Italian car company that owns a majority stake in Chrysler, announced disappointing Q1 earnings alongside an ambitious five-year growth plan.
The two companies will be known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles once the Italian firm successfully acquires all the remaining shares from the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust. The proposed merger is expected to receive shareholder approval next month and, once complete, the group plans to spend €55 bn ($77 bn) to expand its Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Jeep, Maserati and Ram brands in markets across the globe, according to plans outlined in the earnings call.
As part of the announced changes to the group’s leadership, Marco Auriemma, Veltri’s equivalent at Fiat, has taken over as head of Alfa Romeo finance as part of the shake-up, which also sees Ralph Gilles become senior vice president of product design and CEO of the group’s motor sports operations.
Veltri holds a master’s degree in business management from Eastern Michigan University and a BA in accounting from Michigan State. The new head of IR first joined the American car manufacturer in 1988 as a financial analyst, following an eight-year stint as an auditor at KPMG.
Since then, he has served in Chrysler’s product planning departments and as the head of several of the company’s projects, including most recently as the head of the Jeep brand in Europe from April 2011 to May 2012.
