Thomas Schäfer, ŠKODA AUTO CEO, says, “I would like to thank Klaus-Dieter Schürmann for his work at ŠKODA AUTO. He has made a significant contribution to the company’s excellent financial development over the past five years. Particularly in 2020 amid the challenges posed by the pandemic, he managed to achieve a clearly positive operating profit through strict cost and cash management. I wish him all the best for the future. At the same time, I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Christian Schenk as ŠKODA AUTO’s new Board Member for Finance and IT. Mr. Schenk is a proven financial expert with international experience in the automotive industry. His task will be to transform the company into a long-term efficiency champion among the core European competition and to make ŠKODA’s IT operations fit for the future. I wish Mr. Schenk every success in this endeavour, and I am looking forward to working with him.”
Christian Schenk will become ŠKODA AUTO’s new Board Member for Finance and IT
on 1 October 2021. After graduating in economics from the University of Göttingen, Schenk began his career in 1999 at Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg. Between 2003 and 2006, he worked as Head of Group Auditing for Europcar International in France and then moved to Milton Keynes as Head of Central Finance at the Group importer VW Group UK. Schenk then took on senior positions at Volkswagen Passenger Cars in Wolfsburg in the Profit and Financing (2009-2012) and Overall Financial Planning (2012-2016) departments. From 2016 to 2019, he was responsible for Controlling at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. In October 2019, he was appointed Board Member for Finance at MAN SE and Board Member for Finance, IT and Legal at MAN Truck & Bus SE. The merger of MAN SE with TRATON SE on 31 August 2021 has resulted in the closure of the additional Executive Board position at MAN SE.
Klaus-Dieter Schürmann has been Board Member for Finance and IT at ŠKODA AUTO since July 2016. During this time, the company has performed excellently in terms of revenue, earnings and return on investment. Despite the challenging pandemic year 2020, the company achieved a clearly positive operating profit thanks to numerous measures. Schürmann has been with the Volkswagen Group since 1990. In 1995 he became President and CEO of Volkswagen Credit, Inc. and a member of the management team of Volkswagen of America.
At Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Schürmann was General Manager from 2000 to 2002 and a member of the Board of Management from January 2003. He was also Spokesman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Bank GmbH before being appointed Board Member for Finance and IT at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles on 1 September 2008. After five years at ŠKODA AUTO, Klaus-Dieter Schürmann is returning to the Volkswagen Group as planned and will take on new responsibilities there.
New Board Team led by CEO Thomas Schäfer now complete
With the appointment of Christian Schenk, ŠKODA AUTO’s new Board team is now complete. Alongside Michael Oeljeklaus, who has been responsible for Production and Logistics since August 2010, and Karsten Schnake, who has been in charge of Purchasing since July 2020, Thomas Schäfer has successively restructured his management team: Johannes Neft has been responsible for Technical Development on the Board of Management since January 2021, and in March of this year, Maren Gräf joined ŠKODA AUTO as Board Member for Human Resources and Martin Jahn as Board Member for Sales and Marketing, two additional new leaders with many years of experience.
