Liebherr USA appoints divisional director for mobile and crawler cranes

The Liebherr Group, a Switzerland-based heavy equipment manufacturer with a regional corporate headquarters in Newport News, Virginia, has named Simon Schuster as divisional director of Liebherr USA Co., a mixed sales organization supporting product segments throughout the United States. 

As divisional director, Schuster will be responsible for supporting U.S. mobile and crawler crane customers in new and used crane sales, customer service and spare parts. 

“I am honored to have been entrusted with the responsibility of managing the mobile and crawler crane division and look forward to the future with our U.S. customers and employees with a healthy dose of respect and an even greater dose of anticipation,” Schuster says. 

Schuster brings an engineering and leadership background to his role as divisional director at Liebherr USA Co. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences and a master’s degree in leadership in industrial sales and technology from Aalen University. 

Schuster began with Liebherr in 2018 as a sales trainee at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH, where he trained across multiple business units and departments. His training included a two-month assignment in the U.S. and Canada, which the organization says laid the foundation for his understanding of North American markets. 

In 2020, he advanced to the role of area sales manager for the U.S and Canada, serving as a liaison between those markets and Liebherr-Werk Ehingen. In this role, he was responsible for aligning sales strategies, engineering coordination and production planning. Liebherr says his daily collaboration with divisional directors, management and sales representatives has been instrumental in driving regional growth and operational excellence. 

“Simon brings extensive knowledge and experience of the U.S. market, having worked closely with both the U.S. team and customers over an extended period through his responsibilities in Ehingen,” says Kai Friedrich, Liebherr USA Co. managing director. “His expertise will continue to drive the sales growth of the mobile and crawler crane divisions product portfolio as well as the service organization in the U.S.”