General Manager of Ford Pro, Europe

Hans Schep is general manager, Ford Pro, Europe, the global business and brand within Ford dedicated to delivering the world’s most comprehensive suite of solutions to commercial customers of all sizes to help accelerate productivity, improve uptime and lower operating costs through connected services and work-ready gas and electric vehicles.

Appointed to this role in June 2021, after leading the commercial vehicle business in Europe since 2016, Schep leads a European team that is helping to refine customer value through the auto industry’s first standalone commercial vehicles and services business, inside Ford, and a key part of the Ford+ plan for growth. As a one-stop shop, Ford Pro provides a trusted platform of software, charging, financing and customer support to serve commercial businesses of all sizes and industries, and will help lead the transition from gas to electric vehicles

Previously, Schep served as director, Product Marketing, Ford of Europe, beginning in February 2015.  His prior Ford roles include regional director of European sales operations – responsible for marketing, sales and after-sales in North, Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa and Central Asia – and managing director, Ford Netherlands.

Schep joined Ford in 1995. He earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering and management science from Eindhoven University of Technology.

President SVOLT Europe and Vice President SVOLT Energy Technology
As President SVOLT Europe & Vice President SVOLT Energy Technology, Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt aims to establish the high-tech company in Europe. This includes the establishment of the organisation as well as the construction of the production sites. The graduate engineer from RWTH Aachen University has been working as a manager in the automotive sector for over 30 years. Throughout his career, Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt has held international key positions with global responsibility at well-renowned companies such as IVECO, ThyssenKrupp, LINAMAR, and TRW.

As a global high-tech company and spin-off of the Chinese automobile manufacturer Great Wall Motors, SVOLT Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (SVOLT) produces lithium-ion batteries and battery systems for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. SVOLT’s comprehensive one-stop product portfolio includes battery cells, modules and packs as well as battery management systems and software solutions. The company combines in-depth systemic knowledge of battery systems and management with comprehensive expertise in the field of vehicle integration. SVOLT is headquartered in Jintan District, Changzhou, Jiangsu province in China. The home office of the European subsidiary SVOLT Energy Technology (Europe) GmbH is in Frankfurt am Main. SVOLT employs around 9,600 people worldwide, with 2,700 employed in research and development (R&D). In 2019, SVOLT registered over 550 patents.

Senior Vice President of Engineering and Managing Director of Torc Europe GmbH

Since May 2022, Gern has been named senior vice president of engineering and managing director for Torc Europe at the Technology and Software Development Center in Stuttgart, Germany. Gern joins the Torc team  after serving as the the chief technology officer for the Daimler Truck Autonomous Technology Group, where he had a leading role in the technological strategy for the company’s SAE-Level-4 autonomous truck development. Initially, Gern was on the Daimler Truck team that investigated autonomous driving partnerships that led to the successful 2019 acquisition of a majority stake in Torc. After serving as vice president of Autonomous Driving North America in Sunnyvale, California, for Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Gern joined Daimler Truck in 2018 as the technical project lead, Autonomous Trucks. Earlier he joined what was then Daimler AG in 1998 as a research and development engineer and earned successively higher-level positions in the organization. Gern studied computer science at the University of Stuttgart, focusing on software engineering, distributed artificial intelligence, and robotics, and earned his Ph.D. in 2005.

Torc Robotics (Torc) is an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, the global leader and pioneer in trucking. Torc aims be the first company to a profitable, scalable commercialized Level 4 autonomous truck solution for over-the-road trucking applications. Torc is headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, with additional offices in Austin, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Stuttgart, Germany. Saving lives through removing risk factors, improving work standards, and helping communities is a goal Torc has supported from the beginning: Saving Lives is the company’s core value.

Chief Executive Officer of IVECO Group
Gerrit Marx has more than 20 years of experience in roles of increasing importance in different locations around the world and in a variety of industrial segments, with a specific in-depth focus on automotive industries. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering (“Diplom Ingenieur”) and an MBA (“Diplom Kaufmann”) from RWTH Aachen University, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Cologne University. From 1999 to 2007, Mr Marx worked at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, focusing on operational improvement programmes in the automotive and aerospace industries in Europe, Brazil, and Japan. He joined Daimler AG in 2007 to head the global controlling function for vehicle and powertrain component projects, as well as market-entry / mergers and acquisitions for three truck brands in North America, Europe and Asia. This led him to the role of President and Chief Executive Officer at Daimler Trucks China in 2009 and subsequently, President of Skoda China with Volkswagen AG, overseeing imports and joint venture business relations in both roles.

Chairman of the Board of Management and Board of Management Member for Product Lines at AUDI AG
Markus Duesmann was born on June 23, 1969 in Heek, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1991, he completed his studies of mechanical engineering at Steinfurt University of Applied Sciences with a degree in engineering. He began his career in 1992 as a design engineer for a V12 series-production engine at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart. In 1995, he moved to the development service provider FEV GmbH in Aachen, where he held various positions, the last of which was head of the engine mechanics division. In 2004, he took over the position of main department manager for new diesel engines at DaimlerChrysler AG in Stuttgart, and in 2005 became head of Formula 1 development at Mercedes-Benz in Brixworth in the United Kingdom. In 2007, Markus Duesmann moved to BMW AG as head of Formula 1 powertrain. After holding several responsible positions at that company, he was Board of Management Member for Purchasing and Supplier Network at BMW AG from October 2016 until July 2018. The Supervisory Board of AUDI AG appointed Markus Duesmann as Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG effective April 1, 2020. Since then, he has also had Board of Management responsibility for Volkswagen Group Research and Development. Additionally he is entrusted with responsibility for the China business of the AUDI AG and with Board of Management responsibility for Product Lines at AUDI AG.

Member of the Board of Management, Robert Bosch GmbH
Dr. Stefan Hartung has been a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH since January 2013. Since January 2019, he has been chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector, and responsible for the Powertrain Solutions and Electrical Drives divisions. Prior to this, he was responsible for the Energy and Building Technology as well as the Industrial Technology business sectors, in addition to the Bosch Connected Industry business unit. Born in Dortmund in 1966, Stefan Hartung is married and has two children. He studied mechanical engineering, specializing in manufacturing technology, at RWTH Aachen, where he also submitted his PhD on quality management methods in 1993. He joined Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH in Munich in 2004. Before that, he worked for the Fraunhofer Society and the management consultants McKinsey & Company in Düsseldorf.

Senior Director Automotive Software NVIDIA, Berlin
Ralf G. Herrtwich runs automotive software development for NVIDIA in Europe. He currently focusses on artificial intelligence for autonomous vehicles and new automotive computing architectures. Past assignments in Dr. Herrtwich’s career include managing the Automotive and Services Business Units of HERE Technologies as well as developing self-driving vehicles for Mercedes-Benz. In 2013, his team made an S-Class re-enact the world’s first overland drive, covering the historic 65-miles Bertha Benz Route autonomously in regular traffic. A computer scientist by education, Dr. Herrtwich started his career in academia at TU Berlin and UC Berkeley. He then held management positions with IBM and several telecommunication start-ups before joining Daimler in 1998 to manage its Advanced Engineering Centers on Telematics & Infotainment and, later, Driver Assistance & Chassis Systems. Since 2009, he also is honorary professor for vehicle information technology at the Technical University of Berlin. In recognition of his contributions to computing innovations in the car industry, he was named Fellow of the German Computer Science Society in 2019.

Senior Vice President der Electric Powertrain BU, Hyundai MOBIS, Korea
Dr. Byung-Ki Ahn, born in 1963, studied Mechanical Engineering at the Seoul National University in Korea. In 1991, Dr. Ahn moved to the USA, where he obtained his doctoral degree at Virginia Tech, followed by occupations as Senior Research Scientist at the Pacific Northwest Nat’l Lab and as Senior Engineer at UTC Fuel Cells. In 2004, he returned to Korea to begin his career at Hyundai MOBIS as Chief Researcher. From 2006 until 2017, Dr. Ahn directed the Fuel Cell and Eco-friendly vehicle Performance Development groups at Hyundai Motor, before returning to Hyundai MOBIS. Currently, Dr. Ahn fulfils the position as Senior Vice President of the Electric Powertrain BU, R&D Division at Hyundai MOBIS in Korea.