Chrysler completes board of directors

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC, which emerged from bankruptcy last month by selling most of its assets to a company led by Italy's Fiat Spa (FIA.MI), completed its board of directors with the appointment of five new members on Sunday.

The Fiat tie-up was a key step in the Italian carmaker's ambitious plan to create a global player to ride out the worldwide auto sales downturn.

In addition to Fiat, Chrysler Group LLC is owned by a union-aligned trust and the U.S. and Canadian governments in taking over the best parts of Chrysler.

The automaker's nine-member board has three directors appointed by Fiat, four by the U.S. government, one by the Canadian government and one by the UAW trust.

"The formal creation of our Board of Directors is another important step toward building a viable Chrysler Group for the long term," C. Robert Kidder, acting chairman of the board, said in a statement.

The new members of the board are: Douglas Steenland, former chief executive of Northwest Airlines; Ronald Thompson, chairman of the board of trustees for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association; George Gosbee, chairman and president of Tristone Capital Inc; Scott Stuart, a founding partner of Sageview Capital LLC; and Stephen Wolf, chairman of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. RRD.N

The new board will hold its first meeting on July 29.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is the CEO of the new Chrysler.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, editing by Matthew Lewis)