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• Ralf Brandstätter is new Board Member for Procurement
• Dr. Frank Welsch named Board Member for Development
Two new members of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand Board of Management were appointed today. Ralf Brandstätter (47) becomes Board Member for Procurement, Dr. Frank Welsch (51) has been named Board Member for Development. Both report to the CEO of the Volkswagen brand, Dr. Herbert Diess. The changes take effect immediately.
In his new position Brandstätter succeeds Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, who held the brand Board of Management post in addition to his function as Member of the Group Board of Management with responsibility for Procurement. In future, Garcia Sanz will supervise the systematic processing of the diesel issue alongside his role as the Group Board Member for Procurement. Welsch succeeds Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neußer, who is available to take on other responsibilities in the company.
The CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, Dr. Herbert Diess, said: “I am looking forward to working with Mr. Brandstätter and Dr. Welsch on the Volkswagen brand Board of Management team. With their outstanding commercial and technical competence and their proven management skills they fit in well with the team and will strengthen Volkswagen quite significantly. They will play a decisive role in taking the Volkswagen brand further forward.”
Ralf Brandstätter was born in Brunswick on September 8, 1968. He holds a degree in industrial engineering and joined the Volkswagen Group in 1993. Following positions in international project steering in the procurement division, as an assistant to the Board of Management in the General Secretariat and as head of procurement, inter alia for Group powertrain components and as project manager for new vehicle projects, he was appointed head of procurement at SEAT in 2005. He became the member of the SEAT Executive Committee responsible for Purchasing in 2008. Brandstätter was named Head of Group Procurement Exterieur in 2010. He has been Head of Purchasing New Product Launches since 2012 and a General Representative of Volkswagen AG since October 2015.
Dr. Frank Welsch was born in Cologne on July 8, 1964. He holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and began his career in 1994 as project manager for vehicle concepts at Volkswagen Group Research. He held various management posts between 1998 and 2009: he led the bodywork development team, then headed body structure development, subsequently assuming overall responsibility for body development at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. Welsch moved to Shanghai Volkswagen in 2009 as director of product development. In 2011 he took charge of bodywork, equipment and safety development at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. He has been the Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development and Design at ŠKODA Auto since 2012.