How a European Manufacturer Hired Its First US Leadership Team
- Philip Lamb
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
"The strength of an army lies in its leadership." The same principle applies to a manufacturing plant in Michigan or Kentucky that is 4,000 miles from its parent company's headquarters.
European manufacturers are planting flags in the United States at a historic pace. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, foreign companies now hold a $2.42 trillion investment position in US manufacturing, with European investors accounting for the largest single-year increase in 2024. Germany alone added $39.7 billion in one year. The IRA and reshoring incentives are working. The plants are being built.
The leadership teams filling those plants are a different story.
What Webasto Got Right
Webasto Group, a German automotive supplier with nine US and Mexico sites, faced this exact challenge in 2023. The company needed to put the right person in charge of its Americas region at a moment of significant growth and electrification transition.
They hired Brad Ring, an American executive with 30-plus years in automotive manufacturing, most recently running strategy, finance, sales, engineering, and manufacturing for Faurecia Clean Mobility North America, a French-owned operation. Webasto Chairman Dr. Holger Engelmann said Ring's leadership experience would be "instrumental in further developing the Americas region."
What Webasto understood is what most European manufacturers get wrong. Ring was not hired because he was American. He was hired because he had spent his career inside European-owned automotive companies operating in North America. He knew how to translate. He understood what the parent company needed to hear and how the American operation needed to be led. That combination is rare and it does not walk through the door on its own.
The Compensation Gap That Kills Searches Before They Start
The first place European manufacturers lose US leadership searches is compensation. Research from Alexander Hughes shows US CEOs earn between 1.4 and 5.5 times more than their European counterparts. The difference is not base salary. It is structure. US executive compensation packages typically include stock options or long-term incentives representing 50 percent or more of total compensation.
European companies almost never build packages that way. The offer the parent company thinks is generous lands in front of a US candidate who has three other conversations happening simultaneously. The search stalls. The company assumes the market is difficult. The real problem is the offer.
A retained search process solves this before the first candidate is presented. Market compensation data is part of the specification work, not an afterthought. If the package cannot attract the right person, the company needs to know that in week one, not week twelve.
The Authority Problem Nobody Warns You About
Revelio Labs analyzed 26 large multinationals across automotive, health, and technology sectors and found that US employees at foreign-owned firms receive fewer promotions and later promotions than at American-owned companies. The biggest gaps in employee satisfaction showed up in two categories: culture and values, and senior management.
The pattern is consistent. A European company hires an American executive to give the US operation local credibility. Then every real decision flows through headquarters overseas. The US executive becomes a communicator, not a leader. The best candidates figure this out during the interview process and decline the offer. The ones who accept it leave within eighteen months.
The fix is not complicated but it requires a genuine commitment from the parent company. The US general manager or president needs real authority over hiring, operations, and customer relationships. Not advisory input. Not a recommendation that gets reviewed. Actual authority. If the parent company cannot make that commitment, the search will keep failing regardless of who is hired.
What the Right First Hire Looks Like
The profile for a European manufacturer's first US general manager or president is specific. The right candidate has run a P&L inside a foreign-owned company operating in North America. They understand the reporting dynamic, the cultural translation required, and the patience it takes to build trust across an ocean. They know how to represent the US operation to a European board without losing credibility with the American team.
That person is not applying for jobs. They are running something right now. Finding them requires knowing who they are before the search begins, which is exactly what a retained firm with relationships in manufacturing and industrial operations provides.
How the Search Should Run
Start the search before the plant opens, not after. The mistake most European manufacturers make is treating the US leadership hire as a post-construction decision. By the time the building is ready, the pressure to put someone in the seat overrides the discipline to find the right person.
The retained search process for a first US hire includes market compensation benchmarking, a detailed role specification built around what the parent company actually needs from the US operation, and a candidate pool drawn from executives who have successfully bridged exactly this dynamic before.
The outcome Webasto achieved is achievable for any European manufacturer that approaches the search the right way. The failure mode is also consistent for the ones that do not.
For more on how we approach searches for foreign companies building US operations, read our international executive search guide and What Foreign Companies Get Wrong When Hiring Their First US Executive Team.
If you are ready to fill a senior role or want to talk through your search, reach out at prlinternational.com/contact
Want to know what questions to ask before hiring a search firm? Download the free 7-Question Guide: https://prl-proposal.vercel.app/guide