Dive Brief:
- Stellantis has named industry veteran Marcelo Conti to lead purchasing and supplier quality for North America, effective Feb. 23, company spokesperson Jodi Tinson confirmed in an email to WardsAuto.
- Conti, a former General Motors executive, has over 30 years of experience in purchasing roles across the auto industry. He spent the past 11 years at GM, most recently serving as executive director of purchasing for interior, exterior and thermal products since June 2023, per his LinkedIn profile.
- The appointment of Conti comes after the company reported a massive $26 billion write-down on EV-related losses earlier this month due to U.S. tariffs and sluggish sales. In its Feb. 6 earnings presentation, the automaker said that it’s resetting its organizational structure, product planning and management processes in an effort to return to profitable growth.
Dive Insight:
In addition to Conti, Tinson also confirmed the appointment of company veteran Marlo Vitous to lead its global indirect material purchasing, also effective Feb. 23. Vitous currently serves as Stellantis’ SVP of purchasing and supplier quality for North America, a role that Conti is stepping into. In the new global role, Vitous will help drive operational efficiency and supplier relations while helping deliver strong results for Stellantis at the global level, Tinson said.
Vitous spent 21 years at Stellantis’ U.S. subsidiary Fiat Chrysler Automobiles before joining Stellantis as VP of supply chain in June 2019, per her Linkedin profile. Prior to that, she held various executive-level purchasing roles at FCA US since 2006.
In their respective new roles at Stellantis, Conti and Vitous will help support the automaker’s recently announced $13 billion investment in its U.S. operations, according to Tinson. The company’s organizational changes and new executive appointments include what it calls the “re-empowerment of regional teams,” allowing them to make decisions based on their knowledge of customer preferences in each region they serve.
“These appointments strengthen Stellantis’ global execution and further reinforce the company’s ability to execute with speed, discipline, customer focus, and quality,” Tinson said in an emailed statement.
Part of Stellantis' planned $13 billion investment in its U.S. operations, which the automaker said will be its largest in history in the region, are plans to launch five new vehicles and initiate 19 other “product actions.” The initiatives will add over 5,000 jobs and increase its U.S. manufacturing capacity utilization, per its Feb. 6 earnings presentation.
In an accompanying earnings release, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa acknowledged the company’s previous poor operational execution over the past several years, which he said was “being progressively addressed by our new Team.”
Filosa began his tenure as CEO of Stellantis on June 23, 2025, and announced a new executive leadership team on the same day to help lead the automaker’s turnaround.
“We have gone deep into every corner of our business and are making the necessary changes, mobilizing all the passion and ingenuity we have within Stellantis,” Filosa said. “In 2026, our unwavering focus is on closing past execution gaps to add further momentum to these early signs of renewed growth.”
