HOUSTON –

On Thursday, Group 1 Automotive announced the appointment of Charles Szews to its board of directors.

Szews joins eight other directors on the company’s newly expanded board.

"Charlie brings strong leadership, experience managing global businesses, and expertise in capital allocation and generating shareholder value," said Earl Hesterberg, Group 1 president and chief executive officer.

For close to two decades, Szews held a variety of senior management roles at Oshkosh Corp., formerly Oshkosh Truck Corp., a designer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of access equipment, such as  commercial, emergency, military and specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies. 

"During his tenure at Oshkosh, Charlie led strategy development and deployment, as well as 16 acquisitions. We look forward to the insight and experience he will add to our talented management team," said John Adams, Group 1 chairman.

At Oshkosh, Szews was named vice president and chief financial officer in 1996, executive vice president in 1997, president and chief operating officer in 2007 and chief executive officer in 2011. He retired as the chief executive officer in December 2015.

Currently, Szews is also a director and audit committee member of Rowan Companies, as well as director and member of the audit and finance committees of Commercial Metals Co.

From 2006 to 2013, Szews served as a director and audit committee member of Gardner Denver Inc.