Jerome de Haan to head Mazda's CSEE Organisation

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY – June 25, 2009: - Jerome de Haan has been appointed Regional Director of Mazda’s 15-country Central and South East European Organisation, effective 1 August 2009. In his new position, he will be based at Mazda CSEE headquarters in Klagenfurt, Austria. He replaces Josef Schmid, whose appointment as President and Managing Director of Mazda Germany was the subject of a separate announcement by Mazda.

“Jerome de Haan will provide the continuity we need to be successful in this large and important region,” said Philip J. Waring, Chief Operating Officer at Mazda Motor Europe. “He did a good job for us as Managing Director in Switzerland, a competitive and multi-lingual market. This, and his other positions at Mazda, gives him the knowledge he needs to successfully manage an international group of Mazda organisations and independent distributors.”

Mr. de Haan, 50, held various management positions in the automotive industry in Europe, before joining Mazda Motor Europe in 2003 as Director of Distributor Operations. In 2004, he was appointed Managing Director of Mazda Suisse, where he was instrumental in increasing sales and Mazda’s market share to 3 percent. Most recently, he was Regional Director, Selected Markets & Independent Distributors at company headquarters in Leverkusen.

Mr. de Haan is of Dutch descent and was born and raised in Canada, where he spent his early professional life before moving to Europe in 1984. He is fluent in Dutch, English and German, and has a good working knowledge of French.