Former Cadillac marketing executive steps up to CMO at Mercedes-Benz USA

Melody Lee, a former marketing executive at Cadillac, is taking over as CMO at Mercedes-Benz USA.

Lee is one of three senior hires announced by Mercedes at the brand’s annual dealer meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday. The Atlanta company has seen executive churn in recent years, including in sales, finance and customer service. Mercedes-Benz USA is on its second CEO since 2019.

Lee, who will take on her new role July 1, joins from the design company MillerKnoll, where she led brand strategy for Herman Miller and Knoll brands.

Previously, Lee served in two executive roles at Cadillac, including brand marketing director over the course of her six-year tenure with the luxury brand.

One of GM’s youngest-ever executives, Lee developed and oversaw the launch of Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly” campaign and created and launched Book by Cadillac. She was appointed global director of the subscription service in November 2017, but eight months later, she was out at GM.

A Texas native and daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Lee was named an Automotive News Rising Star in 2014.

She replaces Mercedes-Benz USA’s longtime marketing boss and one-time interim CEO Drew Slaven, who left the company in February.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Slaven served as Mercedes’ U.S. CMO starting in 2014 and managed a $500 million annual budget.

He handled the financial and legal negotiations to buy the naming rights of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise. Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dimitris Psillakis once referred to the deal as the “company’s largest-ever marketing endeavor.”