• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

Stellantis’ Jeep brand is adding a new marketing executive to its stable. 

Wendy Orthman joins the company June 2 as vice president of brand marketing and communications.

She will report directly to Bob Broderdorf, chief executive officer of Jeep, with dotted line reporting to Lucy McLellan, senior vice president, global chief marketing and communications officer at Jeep and head of marketing, North America. 

“This is a new position to strengthen our combined global and North American marketing brand organization,” McLellan tells Marketing Daily.

Orthman was most recently executive director of marketing at Genesis Motor North America.

She was previously at Infiniti Motor Co. as global head of brand, marketing and communications, a role that merged the responsibilities of chief marketing and chief communications officer.

Before Infiniti, Orthman was at Nissan. She spent time early in her career at Stellantis from 2007 to 2015, which was then known as Fiat Chrysler America. She also worked at General Motors before Stellantis. 

“Having launched Hummer in the early 2000s, followed by Jeep and Ram and then Nissan trucks, I have developed a real passion for off-roading over the years and the limitless possibilities that truck marketing provides,” Orthman tells Marketing Daily. “Jeep is arguably the most iconic brand in the automotive business, and the chance to lead the brand’s global marketing efforts was a dream opportunity. Honestly, I can’t imagine a better fit for me as a person and a marketer than Jeep.” 

The new job is a homecoming for Orthman, a Chicago native with strong ties to the area. She graduated from Michigan State University. 

“My son was born in Michigan, and the family is in northwest Indiana,” she says. “So the Midwest is home.“