• by Tanya Gazdik , March 17, 2025

Almost exactly one year to the day since Genesis Motor North America announced the appointment of a top marketer, Hyundai Motor Co.’s luxury division has another new CMO on board. 

Veteran marketing executive Amy Marentic, who spent 28 years at Ford Motor Co., will oversee all Genesis marketing strategy and activities nationwide.

Marentic will report to Tedros Mengiste, COO of Genesis. Mengiste joined the company in January, around the same time that the last Genesis CMO, Drew Slaven, resigned from the company for personal reasons. Slaven, a former Mercedes-Benz CMO, was appointed Genesis’ CMO on March 18, 2024. 

Like Mengiste, Marentic graduated from the University of Michigan. She has a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering and a master's degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering, both from U-M. 

Marentic joins Genesis with over 25 years of global automotive and mobility experience, with skills in marketing, sales, product and brand strategy, management and technology. 

Most recently, as president, global solutions at Circana, Marentic collaborated with global advertisers, agencies, platforms, and publishers to strategically optimize media and trade spend, resulting in revenue growth and enhanced ROI. Marentic also held the role of global automotive director at Google, supporting and accelerating the brand’s digital transformation, delivering billions in ad revenue growth. 

Prior to Google, Marentic held multiple leadership roles during her long tenure at Ford, including as general manager for the Ford Icons business (Bronco, Mustang and Raptor), and president of Lincoln Asia Pacific. 

“Amy has a proven track record of driving transformation and growth in her experience leading marketing initiatives in automotive, mobility, and technology sectors,” Mengiste says in a release. “As we continue on our path of rapid growth, I look forward to working with Amy to strengthen our brand’s visibility across every consumer touchpoint and welcome more customers to the Genesis family.” 

Marentic will develop and manage the strategic business plan for all national and regional advertising, multicultural, experiential, and digital marketing. She will also support the brand’s current and growing network of standalone retail facilities through local marketing efforts.

When Mengiste was appointed COO in January, he was tasked with leading strategy and execution of all sales, after-sales, marketing and growth strategies for Genesis in the United States and Canada. After Slaven resigned, he became interim CMO. 

Mengiste joined Genesis Motor America in March 2020 as executive director of sales operations and was later promoted to vice president, sales operations in 2022. 

Under his leadership, Genesis sales grew with the company reporting its best-ever annual U.S. sales achievement in 2024 with 75,003 vehicles sold, representing growth of 8% compared to the prior year. Most recently, the brand celebrated its best-ever monthly sales achievement in December with 8,159 vehicles sold.