Sigrid de Vries has held various positions in public affairs, industry and media over the past 25 years.

Sigrid de Vries has been Secretary General of CLEPA since 2017. Working in close concert with the association’s team and its members, much of her daily work focuses on the transformation towards safe, smart and sustainable mobility, translating the sector’s technology solutions and industrial realities into tangible policy recommendations.

A Dutch national, Sigrid studied journalism in the Netherlands and joined the country’s financial daily in Amsterdam in 1994. From 1998, she covered EU politics, the internal market and enlargement as EU correspondent in Brussels.

Sigrid moved to Berlin, Germany, in 2002 to report on the country’s politics, international relations, economy and business. In 2006, she became director of communications & public relations at the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) in Brussels. From 2012, she led the external relations and communications department at CNH Industrial in Turin, Italy, as VP and member of the EMEA region’s management committee.

Before joining CLEPA, Sigrid was Secretary General of the Association of the European Construction Equipment Industry (CECE) in Brussels.

Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan and president of Liker Lean Advisors—a network of top-notch practitioners who consult, coach and teach in the Toyota Way. He is author of the international best-seller, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, McGraw Hill, 2004 (26 languages, over 850,000 copies sold), and has coauthored six other books about Toyota: The Toyota Way Fieldbook, 2005, The Toyota Product Development System, Toyota Talent: Developing exceptional people the Toyota Way, 2007, and Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way, 2008. His three newest books published in 2011 are: The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, Toyota Under Fire: Lessons for Turning Crisis into Opportunity, and The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development. His newest book is Developing Lean Leaders at all Levels: A Practical Guide. His articles and books have won eleven Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence and The Toyota Way also won the 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year Award and 2007 Sloan Industry Studies Book of the Year. In 2012 he was inducted into the Association of Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame. He is a frequent keynote speaker and consultant. Recent clients include Caterpillar, Applied Materials, Siemens, Dover Industries, Kraft-Oscar Meyer, Alcatel-Lucent, Hertz, Solar Turbine, Art Van Furniture and Henry Ford Health Systems. He has a BS in industrial engineering from Northeastern University and a PhD in sociology from the University of Massachusetts.

As Chief Operating Officer, Thomas A. Schmid is responsible for setting business direction and overseeing Hyundai’s pan-European sales, marketing and customer service operations. Mr Schmid joined Hyundai Motor Europe in May 2013. Prior to this, he held various senior management roles in the European automotive industry, covering multiple brands and disciplines. He graduated from the University of Vienna as Master of Business Administration, Master of Law and Economics, and Master of Laws, as well as completing further professional and business qualifications in the USA.

Ivan Mikloš was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic in 2002-2006 and 2010-2012. In the first government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, during the years 1998-2002, he held the post of Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy. In 1991, he became Minister of Privatization (1991-1992). Subsequently, in 1992 he co-founded and until 1998 led the economic think-tank MESA10. In the period 2006-2010 and 2012-2016, he was a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. In 2014, he was re-elected as the president of the MESA10 think tank and became a member of the board of international advisers of the National Reform Council of Ukraine and the VoxUkraine platform. During the years 2015-2016, he held the position of chief advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Finance and was also an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Economy. From April 2016 to August 2019, he served as the chief economic adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. After the change of government, from November 2019 to March 2020, he was the economic advisor to the newly elected Prime Minister of Ukraine. In 2016-2020, he led the strategic group for the support of reforms in Ukraine (SAGSUR). He is also a co-founder of the Ukrainian economic think-tank Center for Economic Strategy. In 2021-2022, he also worked as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Moldova. In March 2022, he became an adviser to the President of the Slovak Republic in the field of economic policy.

Ivan Mikloš was one of the leading figures of economic transformation in Slovakia. During his tenure in the governments of Mikuláš Dzurinda in the years 1998-2002 and 2002-2006, Slovakia recorded several international successes, including entry into the OECD (2000), NATO (2004) and the European Union (2004). He was the main architect of the reforms, thanks to which Slovakia was named the most reformed country in the world in 2004 by the World Bank. He was awarded “Best Minister of Finance” in 2004 according to Euromoney magazine poll. He is the recipient of many domestic and international awards and the author of numerous professional publications, articles and blogs.

Dr. Matthias Erb was named Head of Holistic User Experience (HUX) in April 2018. Located in Volkswagen’s headquarters Wolfsburg, Germany, the newly created division is steering the interaction between Technical Development, Design, Product Lines and Sales, in order to ensure the smooth integration of the vehicle into the digital world. The scope of work will gradually extend to the entire model portfolio.

Previously, he served as Chief Engineering Officer for Volkswagen’s North American Region (NAR) since April 2016, and also took over responsibility for the company’s NAR Product Strategy.

Since 2014, in his role as Executive Vice President Dr. Erb has been responsible for the setup of Volkswagen’s North American Engineering & Planning Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The center serves as a core entity for engineering related activities of Volkswagen in the region. The establishment of the center is a cornerstone of Volkswagen’s new strategy for the North American market.

Dr. Erb joined Volkswagen Group in 2003 and has held various management positions at AUDI AG and Audi of America. In 2008, he started leading the office of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG in Salzburg, Austria.

Dr. Erb had spent several years as a lecturer for Quality Assurance at the University of Mainz, Germany. He earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics at Aachen University of Technology as well his PhD in Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Oliver Grünberg studied physics at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he subsequently obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering. He has been working for the Volkswagen Group since 1995. From 2007 to 2009, he headed vehicle production at the Volkswagen Group Rus plant in Kaluga. In 2010, he held the position of Managing Director and Director of Technical Affairs at ŠKODA AUTO India. Two years later, he took over responsibility for the VGR-GAZ project in Nizhny Novgorod. From 2014 to 2017, he headed the ŠKODA AUTO brand planning department in Mladá Boleslav. From there, in 2017, he returned to Russia, where he worked as Technical Director and Deputy General Manager at Volkswagen Group Rus in Kaluga. Since 2019, he has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors for the technical area at Volkswagen Slovakia.

Sir Jonathan Faull joins Brunswick after a distinguished career at the European Commission working at the highest level on a wide range of policies including competition, justice and home affairs, transport and financial services. As the Commission’s most senior British official his recent roles included Director-General Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, as well as Director-General of the Task Force for strategic issues related to the UK Referendum.

Jonathan became Director for Competition Policy at the Directorate-General for Competition in 1995, Deputy Director-General in charge of State aid in 1999 and Spokesman and Director-General of Press and Communication in 1999. He was Director-General of Justice and Home Affairs (later Justice, Freedom and Security) from 2003 to 2010 and then Director-General in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA) between 2010 and 2015. Latterly he has served as Director-General of the Task Force for Strategic Issues related to the UK Referendum.

He studied law at the University of Sussex and has an MA from the College of Europe in Bruges. He has been a visiting lecturer at Sciences Po, a visiting fellow of the University of Cambridge Centre for European Legal Studies, a visiting professor at the College of Europe since 2009 and Emeritus Professor of Law at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) since 1989.

He is a visiting Professor at King’s College, London and a member of the boards of the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris and the Centre for European Reform in London. Sir Jonathan has also been named by the University of Sussex as Honorary Professor and Fellow of UKTPO within the Business school, as well as Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the University of Edinburgh.

Sir Jonathan was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2017 for services to UK relations with the European Union.

Michael G Jacobides, Sir Donald Gordon Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Professor of Strategy at London Business School, is ranked as Thinkers50, a top 50 management thinker worldwide. An Academic Advisor to BCG’s Henderson Institute and Lead Advisor of Evolution Ltd, he advises disruptive start-ups and Fortune500 firms alike. His research on industry transformation, value migration and business ecosystems has won awards by the Sloan Foundation, the StrategieForum and CMR. A co-author of WEF’s White Paper on Digital Platforms & Ecosystems and member of the WEF AI Governance Alliance, he has been on its Global Agenda Council and presented in Davos. He has worked on policy as a Visiting Scholar at the New York Fed, member of High Level groups for the EU and the Industry Parliament Trust in the UK and serves as the Chief Digital Economy Advisor (pro bono) at the Hellenic Competition Commission. A frequent keynote speaker in events from TEDx to the Global Drucker Forum he works on thought leadership with consultants such as McKinsey, IDEO, Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, Keystone and ECSi, and on strategy with corporates such as SAP, MAF, Haier, Huawei, Spotify, Philips, Globe Telecom, MasMovil, Vodafone, Nokia, Enel, Santander, Helvetia, Zurich, CS, BaltCap, Airbus, DeBeers, Lavazza, Burberry, Mowi, MerckSerono, SpringStudio and the NHS.  He has visited Harvard, NYU, Cambridge, Imperial, Bocconi and Wharton, where he obtained his PhD, after studying at Athens, Cambridge and Stanford. His work appears in the top academic journals including ICC where he is a co-Editor, as well as HBR and FT. He is Strategy Advisor (pro bono) of ELLET, Greece’s key NGO on environmental & cultural preservation.

Gary Hamel is one of the world’s most influential and iconoclastic business thinkers. He has worked with leading companies across the globe and is a dynamic and sought-after management speaker. Hamel has been on the faculty of the London Business School for more than 30 years and is the director of the Management Innovation eXchange.

Hamel has written 17 articles for the Harvard Business Review and is the most reprinted author in the Review’s history. His landmark books have been translated into more than 25 languages. His most recent bestsellers are The Future of Management and What Matters Now. In these volumes, Hamel presents an impassioned plea for reinventing management and lays out a practical blueprint for building organizations that are “fit for the future.”

Fortune magazine describes Hamel as “the world’s leading expert on business strategy,” and the Financial Times calls him a “management innovator without peer.” Hamel has been ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world’s most influential business thinker and is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and of the World Economic Forum.

Hamel’s groundbreaking concepts such as “strategic intent,” “core competence,” “industry revolution,” and “management innovation,” have changed the language and practice of management in organizations around the globe.

Hamel’s work inside of organizations has been equally pioneering.  Highlights include:

• Building one of the world’s first “idea markets” inside a global energy leader.
• Using crowdsourcing to help a European high tech company build a game-changing strategy.
• Orchestrating a comprehensive effort to turn a venerable durable goods manufacturer into one of the world’s most innovative companies.
• Helping a leading Korean company re-engineer its management practices around the principles of openness, community and meritocracy.
• Designing and deploying an online platform that allowed the employees of a top fashion house to share and develop ideas for strengthening their company’s core values.
• Developing innovation tools and platforms that have helped companies around the world de-commoditize mature industries and accelerate growth.
• Running an online “hackathon” in which more than 1,700 senior executives collaborated to reinvent the HR function.

In his work, Hamel has led transformational efforts in some of the world’s most notable companies and has helped to create billions of dollars in shareholder value.

Hamel is one of the world’s most sought-after management speakers on the topics of strategy, leadership, innovation and change.

Thierry Willemarck is FIA Deputy President for Automobile Mobility & Tourism since December 2017 and Vice-President of Touring Club Belgium since January 2020 (was CEO of Touring Club Belgium since 2001). He was Vice President of FIA Region I from 2005 to 2013 and President of FIA Region I from 2013 to 2017. He is Mentor of the FIA University and member of the World Council of Automobile Mobility and Tourism. Trained as an Industrial Engineer, he also holds a PhD in Business Administration, an MBA from Harvard University and a PMD from MIT. His interests are photography, Old Timers, Motor biking.

Rüdiger Lentz started as a non-career officer in the German Bundeswehr, studied history and political science at the University of Hamburg and began his journalistic career as a military correspondent for the news magazine Der Spiegel. In the early 1980s he moved to WDR, where he became editing manager and foreign policy commentator for the first national channel, the ARD. Lentz was then editor-in-chief of RIAS in Berlin and later bureau chief and senior correspondent for Deutsche Welle in Brussels and Washington. From 2013 to 2020 he headed the German American Aspen Institute in Berlin. He was a co-founder of the German American Business Council in Washington, has been a long-time member of the Atlantic Bridge and is member of the prestigious German Foreign Affairs Council. He now works as Senior Advisor for the European public affairs agency Rud Pedersen.

Wolfram Kirchert is a graduate engineer and a graduate engineer in economics, he worked for the Porsche brand for 25 years. He has extensive professional experience in the field of production and project management, having worked in various management positions, including from 2002 as Head of Outsourced Manufacturing Management, from 2003 as Project Manager for Boxster/Cayman Product Line Production and from 2012 as Head of Project Planning vehicles and plant structure. Since 2018, as head of production planning, he has been responsible for product and process planning across all Porsche plants and product lines. In September 2023, he joined Volkswagen Slovakia as chairman of the board and member of the board of directors for the technical area.

Alexandr Vondra is a Czech politician and diplomat. He is currently Member of the European Parliament. He is former Minister of Defense (2010-2012), as well as Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs (2007-2009) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006-2007). He was the Czech Government’s Plenipotentiary for the preparation of the NATO Summit in Prague (2002). He also served as Czech Ambassador to the United States (1997-2001). He worked as a foreign policy advisor to former President Václav Havel. During the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, he became a co-founder and leading member of the Civic Forum movement.

Experienced General Manager with 18 years history of working in many manufacturing and administrative positions within Toyota Corporation. Skilled in Engineering, Quality, Project, Manufacturing and Administration management.

Štefan Rosina is currently the President of MATADOR Group and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Matador Holding, a. s. In 1984 he started his career in Matador working at various positions in production. Since 1985 he held number of positions as a research employee, technical engineer at Investment Department and Director at Technical Development Department. Since 1997 he served as a Vice-President for Development of Science and Technology, Vice-President for Strategy and Chairman of Supervisory Board. In these days, he presents a major leader in the whole MATADOR Group. He tries to prepare all key aspects in the company for the significant technology decade.

He heads the External Relations / Environment / Social Services department at Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. In the past, he was responsible for the management of the entire logistics at Volkswagen Slovakia and also held several management positions within the Volkswagen Group in Portugal and the USA. Since 2018, he is the President of the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic (second term). In 2018, he was elected Vice President of the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations.

Ivan Hodač is a Founder and President of the Aspen Institute Prague. He was Secretary-General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) from 2001 until October 2013. He is the Chairman of the Board at cabinet DN. The Financial Times listed him among the most influential personalities in Brussels politics. Before joining ACEA, he was Senior Vice-President and Head of the Time Warner Corporate office for Europe. Previously he was Secretary-General of the trade organization IFMA/IMACE, Senior Economist at Didier & Associates, and Assistant Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. He was born in Prague, where he studied mechanical engineering. He completed his education in economics and political science at the University of Copenhagen and the College of Europe in Bruges (European studies).

Dr. Martin Koers studied Economics and Business Administration in Germany and UK (Edinburgh). After working at the Department of Marketing at Muenster University (Germany) he taught as Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois (USA) before moving forward to Ford Motor Company in Europe located in Cologne. At Ford he held different management positions before starting his profession at the German Association of the Automotive Industry (Verband der Automobilindustrie – VDA) in Frankfurt and Berlin as Head of Economic Policy and Climate Protection. At the same time he holds a university teaching position at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Maroš Šefčovič (born in 1966) is a Slovak career diplomat and since 1 November 2014 Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union. In this capacity, he leads the “Energy Union” Project Team within the Commission which comprises of 14 commissioners.
In 2014 he was elected as the Member of the European Parliament. From 2010 – 2014 he was Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration. In 2009-2010, he was European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth. From 2004 -2009, he was the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. As diplomat by profession he served between 1992 and 2004 in Zimbabwe and Canada and as Ambassador to Israel.
He graduated from the University of Economy in Bratislava and the Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations. He holds a degree as Doctor of Law and a PhD of European Law from the Comenius University, Faculty of Law, Bratislava. He also studied at Stanford University, USA.
He has recently published a book on his first mandate as Vice-President entitled “Driving the EU forward – straight talks with Maroš Šefčovič” (John Harper Publishing, London 2014).

Alexander Wortberg is appointed Jaguar Land Rover Operations Director of the new Jaguar Land Rover vehicle plant in Nitra/Slovakia, currently under construction.

Previously, he was Director of Production at Qoros Auto, leading the Changshu production plant near Shanghai. Alexander has 20 years of automotive experience with BMW, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Qoros Auto in Germany, the UK and China. Past responsibilities include diverse project lead roles in manufacturing strategy, new vehicle programmes, vehicle and plant launch, as well as leading vehicle manufacturing operations.

Alexander holds a Masters degree of Production Engineering of RWTH Aachen in Germany, and an MBA from INSEAD at Fontainebleau in France. He is married with three daughters and lives in Slovakia.

Study of mechanical engineering and vehicle technologies finished in 1982.

1982 – 1996: Teves, responsible for brakes engineering and ESC development

1996 – 2006: Audi, responsible for Brake System, Driver Assistant Systems and Fuel tank

2006 – current: Continental Teves AG, responsible world wide for development and application of hydraulic brake systems

Milan Šlachta has been working for Bosch in various functions since 1994, mainly in the automotive field. For eight years he worked as Sales Director and Managing Director at the Bosch branch in České Budějovice, which deals with the production and development of automotive technology. Since 2017 he has become a Bosch Group Representative in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Rastislav Janota has over 20 years of experience in IT and telecommunication sectors.
Over his career, Mr. Janota holds successfully various expert, managerial, and supervision positions in the field of information and communication services and cyber/information security in private and governmental sectors both at home and abroad.
Currently he serves as Chairman of the Cyber Security Committee of the Security Council of the Slovak republic as well as Director of National Cyber Security Centre SK-CERT under National Security Authority of Slovak republic. From these positions, he bears responsibility for cyber security governance of the Slovak Republic.

Stefan Deix graduated as physicist at the University of Vienna. Since 2015 he has been Director of EUCAR, the European Council for Automotive R&D, the research association of the major European passenger car and commercial vehicle manufacturers. Stefan Deix was Director for Research & Innovation at CLEPA (European Association of Automotive Suppliers) facilitating the Research and Innovation Working Group activities. Before that he was working at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology in the Department Mobility. He was appointed research coordinator for Austria, research area leader for road safety and elected Chairman of the research coordinators at FEHRL (Forum of European Highway Research Laboratories). He was member of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) WG on Road Safety, iMobility WG on Automated Driving and Member of the EARPA task force safety.

Graduated in Business Administration at the University of the Basque Country (UPV) both in Financial and Marketing management, Ms. Piñan has collected over fifteen years’ experience in international industrial fields working for different automotive companies. Ms. Piñaan is responsible for the international network of both ACICAE the Basque Country Automotive Cluster and AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center, defining their international strategy and executing the implementation.
Ms. Piñan takes an active part in programs with several international universities and training institutions sharing her knowledge and passion about the auto sector with other professionals and students.

Jan Burdinski is Head of Government Relations for the Hyundai Motor Group in Europe. Having joined the company in 2017, he is a seasoned government relations professional, who has had senior roles in the automotive sector.

Joost Vantomme is Smart Mobility Director at the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents the Europe-based car, van, truck and bus makers.

Joost has over 25 years’ experience in legal, regulatory and public affairs. He served as legal and regulatory affairs director in the telecommunications, postal, logistics and automotive sector. He had leading policy making roles in European associations such as PostEurop and FEDMA, as well as at the UN level (UPU). Joost has also been member of the cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Economy and director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, an EU consultancy firm.

Since 1 September 2016, Joost holds the position of Smart Mobility Director at ACEA, bringing his vast experience together to address the challenges of the new ecosystem ‘cooperative, connected and automated mobility’.

As a frequent speaker at conferences and author of papers, he engages with stakeholders on European and international policy issues in a digital agenda context. Joost holds a Master in Economic Business Law, a Master in Law and a Diploma in Teaching Law (Universities of Leuven, Poitiers and Louvain). He is fluent in Dutch, French, English and German.

Dr. Dietmar Weigt was born in Bonn (Germany) in 1968. He holds a PhD. in mechanical engineering from Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany) and an MBA from University St. Gallen (Switzerland) and RWTH Aachen (Germany). He held various managerial positions in Engineering and Production of powertrain and chassis components within the ZF Group in Germany and Slovakia. In 2014 he became a member of the management board of ZF Slovakia and was appointed Chairman in 2021. In his spare time, he enjoys family life with his wife, 2 sons and a daughter as well as gardening and 3D printing.

Ondřej is a Czech Member of the European Parliament (elected for ANO in 2019) in the Renew Europe political group. He is a member of the ECON Committee and in this capacity is the chairman of the Working Group on Access to Finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. It also sits on two other committees – the TRAN Committee and the LIBE Committee. Its portfolio ranges from transport and tourism to the practical application of new technologies, such as those based on artificial intelligence, or the wider access and use of digital finance for businesses and consumers.

Ondřej is the chief negotiator and spokesman for the Renew Europe political group and the ECON Markets Committee for Cryptoactive Regulation. He is currently working on a draft EU regulation on cryptoactive markets. He was also the rapporteur for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the LIBE Committee. It is also currently preparing several legislative proposals across its committees in the field of energy taxation or the establishment of a Social Climate Fund.

As far as legislation is concerned, its current main area of ​​interest is the digital world, especially the growing digitalisation of the economy. In 2020, the rapporteur for the European Parliament was a report entitled Digital Finance: Emerging Risks in Cryptoactive – Challenges in Regulatory and Supervision in Financial Services, Institutions and Markets, which included recommendations for the European Commission.

As part of building European capital markets and moving towards a capital markets union, Ondřej took part in negotiating a number of pieces of legislation, leading Parliament’s work on a number of tax policies, including elements of the new European VAT regime, such as modernizing e-commerce rules.

Russell Leslie, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia, has almost thirty years of experience in the automotive industry working in the manufacturing industry at Jaguar Land Rover. He began his career in manufacturing operations, where he progressed through the position of group leader, production manager and production manager within the production, quality and commissioning department, and later to a senior management position within Advanced Manufacturing Engineering in the United Kingdom.
He has extensive experience gained from the construction and launch of new projects. He was the first employee of the project to build and start a production plant in Changshu, China, and was responsible for its start-up, production and quality. After returning to the UK, he worked for several years at the Halewood plant as technical director of bodywork and assembly.
He has been working in Slovakia since 2017, where he came as the manager of the construction and start-up project of the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Nitra, and since February 2019 he has taken over its management.

Heiko Seitz is the Global eMobility Leader of PwC. With more than 18 years of hands-on experience in the mobility, infrastructure and energy sectors, he is a trusted advisor for governmental decision makers and industry c-suites, to shape and execute successful transformations towards sustainable and profitable eMobility ecosystems.

Roland Sommer serves as Managing Director of the Austrian Platform Industry 4.0 since October 2015. The platform is a public private partnership that aims at improving framework conditions for the introduction of digitalization (‘Industry 4.0’) bringing together relevant stakeholders in Austria. The focus of the work is based on innovation in production technologies and business models on the one hand and high-quality working conditions on the other hand. Moreover Mr. Sommer is lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Wieselburg. Prior to this function he worked as Director of Public-Private Affairs for AVL List GmbH. AVL List is the
world's largest independent company for the development of powertrain systems with internal combustion engines as well as instrumentation and test systems.

Zdeněk is a partner in KPMG Czech Republic where he leads consulting in financial services. He held various positions in the financial sector in the last 25 years. He was the governor of the Czech National Bank in 2000-2010 as well as a member of the General Council of the ECB. He has been lecturing at Charles University since beginning of the 1990s. Zdenek is a member in scientific and statutory boards at several universities. He is a member of the Czech Economic Society, of which he was the president in 1999-2001.

D.R. Seckinger is the Deputy Chief of the Political and Economic Section at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava. He has previously served in Barbados, Taiwan, and most recently in Moscow. D.R. has a BA in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University, and a MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

EDUCATION:

1990 – 1995: University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Business Economy, Košice
1991: Course for students from Eastern Europe under the auspices of the Union Bank of Switzerland- St. Gallen, Switzerland
2006 – 2009: Technical University of Košice

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2016 – present: Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic
2012 – 2016: Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic
2010 – 2012: Member of Parliament, National Council of the Slovak Republic
2006 – 2010: State Secretary, Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic

Member of the Campus Leadership Team at Danfoss Power Solutions in Povazska Bystrica, responsible for managing production services in the company, including the process of painting hydraulic pumps and motors. He deals with the optimization of material flows and manages the key project of the transformation of the company “PLANT TRANSFORMATION”. Prior to that, he worked as a Logistics Manager at SPPP Slovakia Ltd., focusing on the coating of plastic components for the automotive industry. Throughout his career, he has encountered logistics processes at different levels and with a different focus.

He is a member of the Danfoss Power Solutions Manufacturing Excellence team. It deals with the optimization of production, administrative processes and business transformation to SMART Company. He is responsible for implementing the Danfoss Productivity Program into practice. He manages and collaborates on strategic corporate projects Lean / SixSigma. Previously, he worked as an industrial engineer at Continental Matador Truck Tires in Púchov. He started his career as a researcher at the Research Institute of Matador Púchov.

Robert Baumgartner has been the CEO of Hyundai Motor Slovakia since 2015. During his thirty years in the field of automotive distribution, marketing and services in Slovakia and abroad, he led the company Škoda Auto Slovensko, IVECO SR and managed the international trade in spare parts in IVECO SpA, Italy. He has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in the field of Motor Vehicle Construction.

Ivan Štefanec has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014, where he is still an active member of the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). He is a permanent member of the Delegation for relations with Japan and also a substitute in the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and in the EU Delegation – Ukraine. As chairman association SME Europe focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises, employment, entrepreneurship and the (digital) single market. Before entering politics, he worked at Coca-Cola Beverages Slovakia, first as financial director and then as executive director. He later became director of European integration for Coca-Cola HBC in Vienna. He was the first Slovak to receive the Dale Carnegie Leadership Award, which is considered the most important award in the field of management. 

Jens Hörning is a partner at PwC and 25 years with the firm. He started his career in Frankfurt/Germany and moved to PwC Czechia in 2002 where he spent 4 years taking care of the German Business Group with focus on automotive clients. Since 2006 he is located in Bratislava/Slovakia and leads the German Business Group for Slovakia and CEE. Jens Hörning is the PwC CEE Automotive Industry Leader. He is certified auditor and tax advisor.

Dr. Zhou boasts 23 years of experience in digital servitization and cross-industry innovation within the automotive industry. He has established the Telematics@China Community (TCC) and Tencent Mobility Academy. He has driven advanced digital innovation based on cross-organizational trust by creating a Community of Practice that shared digital knowledge and building digital platform ecosystems. As a founding advisor of projects, he facilitated a strategic joint venture between SAIC Motor and Alibaba Group, leading to the establishment of the unicorn company Banma within just three years and a significant success for the first generation of Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) in China. Dr. Zhou has held several prestigious positions, including Vice President at Alibaba AutoNavi, Senior Vice President at Banma, Dean of Tencent Mobility Academy, and Senior Researcher at Tencent Research Institute.
As Programme Co-Director, he has collaborated with the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) to launch the CEIBS-Tencent Joint Programme for the Automotive Industry. Having successfully delivered two sessions, the third is being planned. Besides offering training programs to automotive executives, Dr. Zhou has provided Telematcs and SDV consulting services to OEMs such as General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, SAIC Motor, Hyundai Kia, SAIC Group, and Great Wall Motor.
A graduate of the Department of Applied Chemistry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a proficiency in Japanese from Keio University, Dr. Zhou also holds an MBA and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) certification from CEIBS. He earned his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from EMLYON Business School in France. His research is dedicated to addressing organizational dysfunctions in the digital transformation of the automotive industry and exploring how Communities of Practice (CoP) can promote organizational changes necessary for SDV.

1st of March 2017 General Director
PSA Groupe Slovakia Production centre in Trnava

2015 Plant Director light commercial vehicules
Plant PSA Groupe in Hordain, France

2014 Assembly Shop General Manager
Plant PSA Groupe in Rennes, France

2011 Industrial General Manager
Plant PSA Groupe in Rennes, France

2007 Industrialization project manager of the 508 car
Plant PSA Groupe in Rennes, France

2004 Production, Quality and Assembly line manager
Plant PSA Groupe in Rennes, France

1994 Head of production unit and group, then Head of technical group and Quality Assurance ; Assembly Shop, Paint Shop, Quality Shop
Plant PSA Groupe in Aulnay-sous-bois, France

EDUCATION

2004 Engineer diploma of Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
2004 MAS in « Organization and management of production systems »

David Kříž graduated from Faculty of Law at Palacky University and completed certificate program in business law at University of California, Berkeley. He has been working in Iveco (part of CNH Industrial group) since 1998 in various positions of Legal and Compliance. David currently holds the position of Iveco Group general counsel for Europe and in 2020 was appointed as a General Manager of Iveco Czech Republic, a. s. David is also a member of various boards of the Iveco Group companies.

Petr Knap is the Head of the Consulting Division for the Czech Republic. After having worked at Procter & Gamble, he worked in consulting since 1996, and joined EY in 2002. His professional experience is based mainly on work in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, in the past he also worked for clients in the telecommunications and public sectors. Over the years, he has led management consulting projects focused on strategy development, organizational change, process improvement and cost optimization. Petr is actively involved in initiatives addressing innovative trends of the manufacturing future such as digitization, Industry 4.0, autonomous cars, e-mobility, etc.

A global futurist and founder of Fast Future Research. Rohit works with global business to help them understand and create the future, and is an award winning speaker noted for his provocative content. He advises global firms, industries and governments on how to survive, thrive, spot and manage emerging risks and develop innovative growth strategies in the decade ahead. His interests include the evolving role of technology in business and society, emerging markets, the future of education, sustainability and embedding foresight in organisations. Rohit helps clients understand how mega trends, emerging ideas, new business models, and disruptive developments in science and technology could impact individuals, society, business, industries and government. He currently leads studies on transformative drivers of change for the next decade, science and technology developments over the next forty years, impacts of emerging technologies on the legal sector, human enhancement and the Shadow Economy.

Head of Chassis and Powertrain Development at ŠKODA AUTO, graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1992. In 2002 he obtained an MBA degree from North Carolina’s Pfeiffer University and in 2006 he earned his doctorate from the Ostrava Technical University

Career
1992 Mercedes Benz AG, Stuttgart – Research / Development commercial vehicles, trucks
1993 – 1995 Škoda automobilová a.s.
Design Engineer – specialist in traction control systems
1995 – 1996 VW AG, Wolfsburg
Specialist in chassis development
From 1996 ŠKODA AUTO a.s., Technical Development
Various positions:
– Assistant Department Manager – brake systems (1996 – 2001)
– Simultaneous Engineering Team Manager of Chassis Development for FABIA and SUPERB (1997 – 2001)
– Department Manager, powertrain integration development (2001 – 2005)
– Department Manager, chassis development (2005 – 2008)
– Head of chassis and powertrain development (since 2008)

Member of
– Scientific Council of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague
– State Examination Board of the Czech Technical University in Prague
– Scientific Council of the Research Centre of the Technical University in Plzeň
– Board of Directors of Doctoral studies in Production Machines and Design department of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Technical University of Ostrava
– Czech Automobile Society
– Assessment Committee of the National Accreditation Bureau for Higher Education
– Chairman of the Board of Education of the Dr. Josef Pekař Secondary School Mladá Boleslav
– Management Board of the Endowment Fund of ŠKODA AUTO

John Uriga received his PhD. at the Institute of Experimental Psychology at Slovak Academy of Sciences where he dealt with research and application of social intelligence and leadership decision-making. From 2003 to 2009, he worked as HR manager in public administration and international corporations. Since 2010, he has been involved in consulting projects in the field of strategic management of change, innovation, leadership and corporate culture. He taught externally at the FSEV and leads the MBA Module of Change Management and Innovation for the Automotive Sector in cooperation with the Vienna Technical University. Since 2018, he is the leader of the Prague Experience Center, which is focused on innovation in the area of modern technologies and business models.

Mr. Horecny devotes to the Six Sigma methodology and Lean for 12 years. He gained a big part of his knowledge and experience in this area working for the manufacturing sector of automotive industry abroad. In Slovakia, he worked in engineering and electrical industry as a project manager and Continuous Improvement Manager. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and his current mission is to implemetn the methodology of Robust engineering (Design for Six Sigma) in the development of car interiors in technical centers Yanfeng Automotive Interior Systems Slovakia in Trencin.

Jay has been associated with the car industry since working for Porsche in the late 1980s. Through the 1990s he ran the UK division of a major German consultancy and in 1998 he set up his own consultancy, Spyder Redspy Ltd, providing market analysis, product planning and online services to the car industry. He ran the company until 2014, when he joined the Automotive Sector Team as R&D Specialist.

He now works with UK technology companies to develop their international markets in three key areas: low carbon propulsion, lightweight vehicle structures and connected and autonomous vehicles. He also works with overseas suppliers to increase the amount of R&D they undertake in the UK.

Ivan Kebísek is Director Engineering of Yanfeng International Automotive Technology, located in Trenčín, Slovakia. He is responsible for Yanfeng Technical Center in Trencin, Slovakia and he is Engineering lead for Customer Business Units of FCA brands in Stellantis group (Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati) and for Suzuki in Europe. His responsibility covers R&D and Engineering for Yanfeng products, mainly focused on Interiors – Instrument Panels, Cockpits, Floor Consoles and Door Panels.

Graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering STU in Bratislava. He has dedicated his entire professional life to digitization and automation in the industry. He started his career at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering SVŠT, he dealt with the automation of pre-production phases for the ZTS Group. In 1991, he co-founded SOVA, now known as SOVA Digital. For six years, he led the commission for research, development and innovation of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic. He was a member of the Government Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. He is one of the initiators and leaders of the Association of Intelligent Industry – Industry4UM.

Christoph Stürmer is the Global Lead Analyst of Autofacts, PwC’s independent competence and research center on the global automotive industry. Christoph has more than 20 years’ experience in the automotive industry, with a background in product management and strategic planning at a leading OEM, and long-ranging experience in industry analysis and market forecasting, as well as manufacturer strategy assessments.

2018 ~ present: Development Director, LGCWA
2013 ~ 2017: Research Fellow, Center for Advanced Automotive Battery Development
2006 ~ 2012: General Manager, Battery Research and Development

Petr Karásek is manager focused on restructuring or another dynamic changes in companies (restructuring, transfer of production, crisis management, insolvency situation etc.). In the past he worked among others as Executive manager of restructuring in Škoda Transportation, DISA Industries, KORD Group, Jablonex Group, AWELD, ESSA Czech, Kovosvit MAS, and previously as a Commercial director and member of board in Karosa – Renault V.I – IVECO. His most succesfull project was rescue and stabilization of traditional producer of heavy off road trucks TATRA. He is Vice president of Czech Association of Interim management, Member of international Turnaround Management Association, Advisor to the President – Automotive Industry Association of the Czech Republic and Governmental Councillor of the road safety by the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

– President of Industry Innovation Cluster – IIC
– President of French and Slovak chamber of commerce – FSOK
– Economic advisor of France – CCE
– Co- owner and general director of company ELECTRIK

Jana Michelová has joined Continental Zvolen in 2017, taking position of Innovations manager after 10 years of professional experience in the automotive industry. In 2018 production plant in Zvolen has been named as one of two Industry 4.0 Model plants for the Automotive divisions in Continental. Model plant projects are covered under the lead of the Innovations department and include activities such as automated material flow, big data, digitalization and automation, HMI and many others. Jana Michelova has international academic background with major in Quality management and Master´s degree in Project management from University L´ENSAM in France.

After studies at the Czech Technical University in Prague (1972) he worked for 20 years in industrial research of highly turbocharged diesel and gas engines and obtained his Ph.D. in the National Institute for Machine Research in 1980. He entered the Czech Technical University as a lecturer in 1982, obtained his DrSc. in 1990 and full professorship in 1993. Since 1994 till 2016 he headed the Department of Automotive Technology, having been the dean of Mechanical Engineering Faculty (1997-2000) and vice-dean for R&D (2006-2017). He is focused on powertrain and engine design and thermodynamic optimizations based on combination experiments and simulation methods. He is an author of more than 20 patents and more than 100 papers (recently published especially in SAE Papers and Journals).

He founded and manages M2M Solutions, a Slovak technology company specializing in supply chain management, logistics, and manufacturing processes. Currently, he primarily focuses on new product development and innovation in the fields of mobility and manufacturing. Additionally, he is actively engaged in various activities aimed at addressing R&D challenges.

In recognition of his significant contributions to building the smart industry ecosystem, particularly in the smart mobility and space sectors, he was awarded in 2021 in the category of Science and Technology Personality.

– Journalist – by leading Slovak economic week magazine TREND
– Spokesman of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic
– Director of Communication in different international companies
– Current: since 2006 spokesperson and External Relations Director by Groupe PSA Slovakia
– Current: since 2018, representing Groupe PSA Slovakia – General Secretary of the Industry Innovation Cluster (IIC)

Industy professional – 20 years in Automotive industry – Operations and General company management/turnarounds and green fields. Lean SixSigma Management Champion and BB. During carrier was starting up running and restructuring operations for Tier1/Tier2 in Czech and Slovak Republics. Last 3 years specializing in digitalization of the operating processes and organizational turnarounds to achieve efficiencies in productivity, automation, data mining, energies and waste savings/elimination in support of constant continuous improvements for operating flexibility and costs.

She is head of Environment Department at Volkswagen Slovakia. She has been involved in the application of environmental protection in car production for over 16 years – implementing the requirements of legislation and environmental management systems in production processes, design and implementation of environmental strategy or preparation of concepts and plans to reduce environmental impacts for environmental and energy-intensive technologies. As a chairman of the Environmental Legislation Commission of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic, she prepares opinions and proposals for comments on the environmental legislation of the Slovak Republic and the EU. Since 2021, she has been active as a member of the Government Council for the Green European Agreement of the Slovak Republic for the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations. She graduated in Environmental Protection / Geochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, and later in the professional MBA program Automotive Industry of the Technical University of Vienna and the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava.

Milan Jurky is the director and managing director of Schaeffler Kysuce, one of the largest production plants of the Schaeffler Group, the world’s leading supplier to automotive and other industries. He has been working for Schaeffler Kysuce for more than 20 years and has held several positions during his tenure – from experience in product design, construction, technology, and industrial engineering to the position of director and managing director of the largest employer in the Žilina region. Thanks to him, the production plant has succeeded in gaining important investments and a priority partnership for the research and development of electric and hybrid vehicles and systems within the Schaeffler Group. Milan Jurky is a successful graduate and doctoral student at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Žilina. Since 2011 he has been the ambassador of this university and actively promotes the study of technical fields.

Jesse has worked in the mining and automotive industries since 1997. His experience with different companies has given him a good understanding of the entire automotive supply chain – from raw material acquisition to serial vehicle production. Now he is responsible for steel solutions developments including Body in White, Battery pack and chassis components at ArcelorMittal

Dr. František Simančík is a member of the Presidium of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He is the head of the academic innovation center for light metals and composites (INOVAL) and coordinator of Centre of excellence for R&D on structural composites for engineering and medical applications. His research is focused on the development of novel lightweight structural materials including metal matrix composites or metallic foams. Main research results include the development of metal foaming technology with several successful applications in car body structures and applications of MMCs parts where efficient heat management is required. He coordinated more than 30 research projects including 13 international projects and successfully supervised 9 PhD students.

Mr. Jaroslav Kouril is working nearly 30 years in the human resources sector. His actual position is HR Director for Slovakia in multinational company Faurecia. Faurecia as an important world player in the field of subcontractors in automotive industry and currently employs approximately 2,500 employees in Slovakia. He has large professional experience in multinational corporations in the automotive, industrial and energy sectors, but also in the public sector. He completed his postgraduate degree in financial law at Comenius University and international management studies in Netherlands and Czech Republic.

Professor of technical equipment safety and risk theory. Rector of Technical University in Košice from 2000 to 2007, President of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic from 2015 to 2017. Currently, he is the Coordinator of Hydrogen Technologies in the Slovak Republic and a member of author teams for the development of the National Hydrogen Strategy of Slovak Republic as well as the National Hydrogen Strategy Action Plan.

Date of birth: August 20, 1970

EDUCATION:
2007 – 2010 University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Business Economy, Košice, dissertation defense /PhD title/
1991 – 1995 University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Business Economy, Košice, Department of Management, Marketing and Accounting /Ing title/
1989 – 1991 University of Economics in Prague, Department of International Trade
1985 – 1989 Secondary Grammar School Kráľovský Chlmec

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

06/2012 – 03/2016 State Secretary, Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic
04/2012 – 06/2012 Advisor to Minister, Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic
09/2010 – 04/2012 Deputy Director for Economy, Slovak Water Management Enterprise, s.p.- plant in Košice
07/2010 – 09/2010 CEO, Advanz, s.r.o. Košice
04/2007 – 06/2010 Director General of Strategy Section, Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic
11/2005 – 03/2007 Accountant and Financial Manager in private companies in Košice
08/1995 – 11/2005 Assistent GR, Plant Manager, Financial Director, Východoslovenské strojárne a.s.,

Foreign Languages
Hungarian – advanced (spoken and written)
English – advanced (spoken and written)
German – intermediate (spoken and written)
Russian – intermediate (spoken and written)
Spanish – beginner

Ing. John Lábaj, PhD. studied at the Department of Design and Machine Components of University of Zilina. He has been working for CEIT since 2011 where he significantly contributed to the research, development and deployment of mobile robotic systems into industrial practice. Since December 2015, he is the director of CEIT Technical Innovation, which is part of CEIT.

Tomáš Polaščin (37) is responsible for Production Technologies and a team of technology experts in the company. Last year he became a member of the strategic project of the Volkswagen Group for “Production of the Future“, focused on the preparation of production processes for electromobility, digitalization of products and production technologies.

He completed studies at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, in 1982. In the same year he started working at the same faculty as a research worker. His focus was on Management Information System, with a specialization on preproduction processes. Since 1989 he was a leader of the division of Automatization of Engineering Work in the company called Inorga Praha, Bratislava branch. In 1991 he was a co-founder of SOVA Ltd. enterprise. Since then he has been the director of the company named SOVA Digital a.s. today.

Registration will start od the day one of the conference at 9:00 AM at the hotel Partizan lobby and will continue until the lunch. After lunch of the first day, the registration of participants will be possible at the info booth in the conference foyer at the first floor.

Dušan Okénka (42) is the founder and owner of X-COMPANY company, which focuses on the development of companies with a focus on management, leadership, logistics and purchasing. During his 10 years of experience in the automotive industry, he has gained experience in logistics management, purchasing and running of several projects.

At the present, he is focusing on the development of training programs for Volkswagen Slovakia, DHL Exel Slovakia and reputable suppliers. X-COMPANY itself has a sophisticated training system in logistics and purchasing, constantly developing educational management and leadership practices. On the supply day of Volkswagen Slovakia, X-COMPANY was introduced as a partner for supplier development this year (mainly project startups, pre-series and serial logistics).

X-COMPANY’s vision is to contribute to the development of logistics and purchasing training with a focus on the automotive industry at high and high schools.

Dušan Okénka is an alumnus of the University of Economics in Prague with a focus on business economics and management, with secondary specialization being logistics – international transport and forwarding.

Simon Garbett leads Squire Patton Boggs’ UK and European Automotive Group.  Areas of key focus are automotive cross-border issues and disputes, manufacturing, supply chain and product liability issues, including automotive and tech cross-overs. Simon has also represented a significant number of automotive and other clients at successful mediations.  Simon is also a member of Squire’s Global Automotive Industry Group, as well as co-author of the firm’s Global Supply Chain Law Blog. Simon speaks regularly across Europe on legal issues associated with connected and autonomous vehicles.

Olaf, Managing Director at FPT Slovakia and Executive Vice President for Sales and Business Development for FPT Germany, has been an experienced manager, project manager and senior consultant in international corporations for more than fifteen years. Olafs’ areas of specialization are strategy and organizational development, outsourcing, built up Near-shore Centre, process optimization, change and transformation management.

Pavel is a graduate of the University of Economics. During the years 1986-1990 he worked at the Economic Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.

From 1990 to 1991 he was the chief economic advisor to the Minister for Economic Policy. In the 1990s, he served as vice-governor and executive governor of the Czech National Bank. He was responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Czechoslovak currency and the introduction of the Czech crown. In 1994-1997, he worked as an expert of the International Monetary Fund and participated in the introduction of national currencies in a number of eastern European countries. In the 1990s he was president of the Czech Economic Society. In 2000 he started working for Česká spořitelna as chief economist, in 2004 he was elected a member of the Board of Directors and since January 1, 2011 he has been serving as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors since January 1, 2011. He was named Banker of the Year three times (2011, 2012 and 2013) He deals with the economic, business and social impacts of the digital revolution.

He is the founder and chairman of the board of the 6DAcademy.

Mr.Furmann has been devoting more than ten years to designing and optimising the layout of manufacturing and logistics systems with the support of digital business tools. At CEIT, he is responsible for many projects utilizing the most advanced Digital and Virtual Factory technologies. It deals with Industry 4.0 and its implementation into industrial enterprises.

Studied at University of Hanyang, South Korea, and successfully graduated in the field of Machine Design and Production Engineering. Started his career with Kia Motors Corporation in 1985. After several years, continued at the Sohari car production plant as Head of Production Management. From 2005, began to work for Kia Motors Headquarters as Head of Global Production Management. Before he joined Kia Motors Slovakia, he was the Head of Corporate Planning team in Hyundai Motor Group. After his rich professional career in 2017 he got an opportunity to use his experience abroad in the position of the President and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia.

He works as a director of IT services. Manages IT service support for the group, participates in Automotive and Industry 4.0 projects, tests and implements new technologies and standards in process business

Dušan Valient has worked in the automotive field at Adient for the past 10 years (15 years in the automotive field in total). He is currently leader of the PG Complete Seat department in technology center in Trenčín/Slovakia. He first began his career in 2003 as a Mechanical and Electrical R&D Engineer  responsible for thedesign, industralization and launch support for the global Automotive Tier 1 wire harness supplier.

In 2008, Dušan Valient joined Adient Slovakia (former Johnson Controls International) company to the Complete Seat department, where his role was initially to lead the team dedicated to Seating design, tactical planning, budgeting, testing and launch support in JIT plants for the French and Czech OEM’s. He suceeded and in 2016 he assumed full responsibility for Product Group Complete Seat department in technology center Trenčín/Slovakia with the Seating design resposibility for up to15 OEM’s. He is a cross-functional leader for product development and supporting functions (Prototyping, Testing, Release Coordination, etc) and supervising a multicultural  workforce in EMEA and APAC region.

Mr. Ľubomír Šooš is currently Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. He is also Vice-President of the Automotive Industry Association, and Vice-President of the Mechanical Engineering Association of the Slovak Republic. Professor Šooš has gained considerable experience in the research and development of machines and equipment for the treatment and recycling of waste, and its conversion into alternative sources of new raw material or into energy. To date he has undertaken more than 31 international and national research projects, published more than 395 scientific articles in journals and Scientific Proceedings, and is the author of 48 national and international patents.

Professionaly, she manages projets in the field of lifelong learning, development and implementation of avisory tools and information systems, withinin active labor market measures. The main topic of the current professional focus is mainly monitoring and forecasting of labor market needs, where she considers strategic partherships of social partners, the Slovak Government, employers, local governments and other importatnt actors in the labor market as a crucial element. She managed the creation of the National System of Vocations in Slovakia, where together with interested professionals creates a system of sector councils, which in all sectors of the national economy define the standard requirements for technical knowledge and skills of a skilled workforce.

Mr. Holeček is active in the automotive industry his entire professional career. He was director of machining vocational school near automobile factory in Trnava for eight years. Almost 20 years HR Director at VW Slovakia in Bratislava, VW Autoeuropa in Portugal and the VW Group Rus in Kaluga. Was Vice President and President of the Automotive Industry Association of Slovak Republic in years 2012 – 2017.

-Country manager for CZ&SK

-Graduated at Electrotechnical University in Prague

-15 years experience in Robotics and Automation

-Skills with robotics turn-key solutions in Automotive and General Industry

-Started career at company KUKA Roboter as a first employee in Czech Republic

-Started local direct activities (sales, service, college)

-Currently we have 26 employees, new office and I am responsible for KUKA Roboter Business  in Czech Rep. and Slovakia

Tomáš Mičík is leading the department Technology planning and digitalization at Volkswagen Slovakia. Previously, he was responsible for department Planning of Press shop, later Planning of Body shop Audi Q7 and Body shop VW Touareg.

Tomáš holds master degree of Production management at the University in Vienna, studied Mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Miami and holds PhD. degree of Production quality studies at Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.

2009 University degree FH Joanneum in Graz

2009 Development Engineer, AVL, Graz

2011 Development Engineer, Daimler AG, Stuttgart

2013 Development Engineer, Miba Frictec

2017 Manager R&D Application Engineering, Miba Frictec

Renáta Valeková is a graduate of the Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany. She is working at Volkswagen Slovakia since 1992. Till 2012 she acted as manager in several departments: Environment, Health and Safety, Facility management. In the last 5 years she was head of Personal development. She started the implementation of the dual education and vocational training at VWSK. Now, as head of Dual study/team of the future, is she responsible for the implementation of dual studies.

Filip Svab is responsible for supporting AT&T’s international external and regulatory affairs team in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. His main task is to advocate AT&T positions towards governments, public administration and regulators in this region. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a diversified, global leader in telecommunications, media and entertainment, and technology. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve over 3 million global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000.

An economist by training, Gwenole COZIGOU has been an official in the European Commission since 1985. He is Director for Sustainable Industry and Mobility, in Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME. His main responsibilities today cover: circular economy, energy union and energy-intensive industries, construction, automotive and rail industries, raw materials, maritime and engineering industries.

Alexander Micovčin is a Director General for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Between 2012 and 2017 he served as a Deputy Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the EU.
He started his diplomatic career at the Slovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs focusing on Middle East and Africa, and continued working at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in United Arab Emirates, Kenya and as a counsellor at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Denmark and Germany. From 2011 to 2012 he became he the Director General for Economic Co-operation and ODA. He studied at the University of Economics in Bratislava majoring in Foreign Trade.

Jan Vodstrčil is responsible for technical legislation, homologations and safety of product in IVECO Bus group, European No. 1 in bus business. He is certified Expert of Forensic Science in Road Traffic and Machinery, member of Expert Advisory Body of Technological Agency of the Czech Republic. Represents Czech Automotive Industry Association in ACEA in HDV affairs. Since 2011 has participated in several national working groups implementing DAFI and other governmental strategies.

Hydrogen technology promoter in Slovak Rep. Dealing with the low-carb economy transition. Focusing to the clean mobility powered by hydrogen using fuel-cells. One of my goals is to implement a hydrogen value chain for e-mobility in Slovakia. Concretely, the implementation of the green hydrogen production – distribution – hydrogen refueling stations for FCEVs (cars, buses, vans, trucks, trains).

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice. He is devoted to power engineering with a focus on hydrogen technology. He is orientated to hydrogen storage in the form of metal hydrides.

David earned a degree in artificial intelligence. Before joining IBM, he worked for start-ups in the Czech Republic and Silicon Valley. He has 20 years of experience in designing and implementing IT systems. He is an architect, developer and intrapreneur at IBM Czech Republic, currently leading innovative and agile teams developing AI and IoT based solutions in manufacturing, finance, and logistics. These solutions focus on turning latest university research into production ready systems.

Since 2015 a Head of Quality CEEMEA at Schaeffler, where he works more than 20 years on quality architecture of high precisions processes. In 9 plants, 2 of them in Czech Republic and 2 in Slovak Republic, with more than 20.000 employees in Subregions CEE and MEA, we produce super precision bearings and components.

In 1971 he finished his studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. Then worked at the state-owned company Autopal. From 1989 to 1993 as CEO of AUTOPAL. After the acquisition of Autopal by Ford Motor Company in 1993, he became the Managing Director of Autopal-Ford. From 1995 to 1996, he worked at Ford Motor Company in the United States as Head of Business Planning in Lighting Technology and later as Production Manager at Ford Sheldon Road Plant. From 1997 to 2007, he was the CEO of Visteon-Autopal. He was also the Executive Director of Visteon Slovakia and Executive Director of Japan-USA JV, Visteon Nichirin Czech.
Since 2007 he has has been working as Executive Director of the Moravian-Silesian Automobile Cluster, and as a university teacher at the Ostrava Private Business School.
He graduated from Strategic Management and Leadership courses at Michigan State University and Duke University in the US.
He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Czech automotive industry for many years and in 2003 he won the prestigious Dale Carnegie Leadership Award for Central Europe.

She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Prešov, specializing in adult education, specializing in personnel management. She passed the state examination in psychology, pedagogy, sociology, economics, marketing, management and human resources. For more than 20 years, as a consultant, but also as a consultancy team leader, she has been involved in comprehensive personnel and organizational consulting for small and medium-sized companies. She also works as a lecturer in human resources and project management, designer of educational programs, designer and project manager of innovative international projects. In 2009, the company she owns became a co-founder of the Slovak Plastic Cluster. Since that year she has been a member of the SPK presidium where he is responsible for education, strategy and projects. From 2014 to 2020, she also served as the Executive Director of the SPK, where she prepared the SPK Strategy and other conceptual materials.

I have been working in Industrial Engineering already for 13 years. Currently I head up team of 5 Lean Engineers and 4 Industry 4.0 specialists. Our mission is to realize digital transformation of the factory by team work.

He was born in Slovakia, where he studied design in Bratislava.
He graduated from the prestigious German school Fachhochschule Pforzheim with a Master of Transportation Design degree.
His career as a designer began at Ford in Cologne in 2004, where he became the author of the instrument panel for the B-Max.
Since 2007 he worked for seven years in the Italian studio Pininfarina, where since 2011 he participated in the support of the main customer, Ferrari. His most important projects include the Ferrari P540, California T or the Masserati GrandCabrio.
Since 2015, he has been the Chief Designer and Chief Strategist for Design at Aufeer Design.
He speaks Czech, English, German and Italian in addition to his native Slovak.
He is married, has a son and a daughter.

In 2015, he graduated from the Slovak University of Technology with PhD degree in the Mechatronics study programme. In SOVA Digital company he works in the field of research and development of Cyberphysical systems focusing on process optimization in production and logistics.

Deputy CEO and Production Director, Groupe PSA Slovakia plant in Trnava
o General Manager of Assembly Unit
o Production manager
o Responsible for Standardized work
o Responsible for quality engineering
o Launch manager of technology and manufacturing of new projects
o Leader of optimization of work posts
Study: Slovak technical University in Bratislava, Faculty of material and technology in Trnava

As a cost saving analyst, he manages and monitors for GQ systems all cost saving projects in Europe in automotive and non-automotive industry. He has built up his experience in the field of quality management and plant management over the past 25 years from west till the east Europe. He started his career in an American company in the Netherlands, where cost savings was very common and central process in the organization. Over the years he specialized himself in lean manufacturing, process improvement, quality management and cost savings processes. His customers were VW group, BMW, Scania and DAF truck, companies which are specialized from acoustic and plastic parts till high temperature sensor and headlights. Since 2016, he has been working as a consulting & interim and cost-saving manager for GQ systems.

Graduate of STU in Bratislava, in the field of energy. At SOVA Digital, he works as a solution architect focusing on processes in engineering companies, mainly in the segment of custom production. The aim of these solutions is the gradual creation of digital management of the company corresponding to its needs and possibilities.

Graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Technical University in Košice, author of professional and popularization articles. He currently works as a specialist for innovation management at SOVA Digital. He specializes in developing innovation skills, engineering creativity and building an innovation culture in industrial companies.

Tomas hacked the bank that holds your money. Don’t worry, though – he was on the good side, with the valid contract and the goal to help. Tomas found his hacker talent back in childhood – wrote his first program as eight years old. In his adult life, he decided to make the world more secure. Tomas has more than fifteen years of professional experience in IT security. He is helping companies ranging from e-commerce to major financial institutions. He is the hacker on your side.

He worked in various areas, mainly as a manager and leader – R&D, IE, Sales, Quality. Work experience within the EU. Over the last 10 years, he has built (together with the team) one of the largest and most competent R&D departments in Slovakia, creating more than 200 jobs, several 1000 m2 of buildings filled with top technologies, finally responsible for “own” customers and basic development (system development, mechanics and SW). Fascinated by people, how a human being “works”, how relationships work. He studied experiential pedagogy, NLP neurolinguistic programming, personality profile creation so that he could cover all levels of client or team development in his work. He founded Roriginal. He created his own comprehensive methodology of “work-life” balance, which begins with inner happiness, health and strength, awakening resistance to external factors that could trigger strong emotions, fear, stress or limiting beliefs. At the beginning of 2022, he left corporate life and is fully engaged only in the development of the people and teams they want! It helps to develop the client’s strengths to the maximum so that he achieves everything he wants in his life. With one goal of this mission: MASTER YOUR LIFE NOW!

Lucky Yu, Manager of Planning and Marketing Department from Master Transportation Company. He was responsible for overseas marketing in Master Group. His main experience inside Master Group includes presenting the total solution of transportation to the Government of Shan State, Myanmar, having the research in Cambodia for our local fleet operation, and holding few exhibitions and e-bus demostrations in Malaysia and Middle East, meanwhile, taking care of government-related project in Taiwan.

During his career, Patrik Križanský has focused on innovative companies and international projects focused on electromobility and renewable resources. He currently leads the technology startup Espio, which focuses on graphene sensors for batteries.

He co-founded the Slovak Electromobility Association and today leads it as its director. He is also Vice-President of the European Electromobility Association (AVERE), based in Brussels.

He holds a Executive MBA from the Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota) and the Vienna University of Economics (WU Wien). He also completed his studies in international relations and diplomacy at the MBU in Banská Bystrica.

Roman Kraľovanský started his career at Kia Slovakia in the spring of 2005, when he started working in the maintenance section at the Press shop, and later worked as a maintenance supervisor for the Press shop, Body shop and Engine shop sections until 2009. In 2010, he was appointed Head of the Body shop department, where he was responsible for the production of vehicle bodies. Later, he headed the final assembly of cars for five years. In October 2017, he was appointed to the position of Head of the Production Sub-Division, responsible for the complete production of vehicles from stamping, through their welding, painting, including assembly, to which the production of engines was added in April 2022. As of September 1, 2022, he was appointed to the position of Head of Production Group responsible for the manufacturing group including the maintenance department.

Graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering STU in Bratislava. He has dedicated his entire professional life to digitization and automation in the industry. He started his career at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering SVŠT, he dealt with the automation of pre-production phases for the ZTS Group. In 1991, he co-founded SOVA, now known as SOVA Digital. For six years he headed the commission for science and research at the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic. He was a member of the Government Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. He is one of the initiators and leaders of the Association of Intelligent Industry – Industry4UM.

I deal with renewable construction in general. I like simple solutions that bring the desired goal, but they are also environmentally friendly. Saving money is important for everyone today, so I stick to two principles: The cheapest energy is the one we don’t have to produce, and I’m not rich enough to buy cheap and not well-functioning solutions.

After graduating from the Prague University of Economics in 1994, he studied postgraduate economics in Saarbrücken and Hamburg and in 2002-2003 worked as an assistant at the University of Leipzig. In 2003, he joined the European Commission at the General Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs. In the fall of 2006, he started working for the Czech state administration (deputy minister of education, then deputy prime minister for European affairs). Since 2010, he has worked in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union – first as the director of the office of the Council’s Secretary General, and since February 2016 as the director for budget, taxes and regional policy. In the years 2017-2023, he was a member of the banking board of the Czech National Bank, of which he was vice-governor for the last 4 years.

Lecturer, consultant, auditor in the automotive industry with a focus on fulfillment customer requirements. Since 2006, he has been working in the field of quality assurance and process management, prepares companies to implement IATF 16949 and VDA standards.

Adriana worked for over 20 years in senior bank management, mostly abroad. She managed the money circulation of the central European banking group Erste Group in Vienna, later its group
controlling (planning and financial strategy) as well as CFO of the largest Romanian bank BCR. After coming back to Slovakia, she worked in IT development, preparing energy high-tech strategy startup and subsequently became a co-founder of the consulting firm L.A. holding in the field of ESG consulting, which prepares trainings, specialized SW tools as well as individual consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of ESG transformation.

He has been working at EXS Slovakia since the beginning of the Slovak branch. He started working as an operations manager and slowly built it up from the ground up, soon being appointed to the position of CEO. Subsequently, a company was founded in the Czech Republic, where since 2009 he has also been working in the position of general director. Both companies carved their place on the automotive market right from the start, they are currently in the TOP 3 Providers of quality services in the automotive sector in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

She has been working at Exact Systems for 12 years. The position of Operations Director entails overall supervision of the implementation team in the Czech Republic. Systematically plans, organizes, makes decisions and leads the implementation team. He negotiates with strategic partners.

He has been working in the company for 11 years. He is responsible for managing the quality and standards of the company’s services. He performs internal audits and is in charge of training workers in the School of Quality educational project.

She has been working at EXS for 10 years, with the last 5 years as Marketing Manager. She is responsible for the organization and management of all marketing projects, events and activities of the company. She is also responsible for preparing graphic materials and advertising items, promoting the company in the media and on social networks, and taking care of employees.

For more than 20 years, Miroslava has been part of leadership teams in multinational companies operating in automotive, FMCG/Retail/e-commerce and Telco, where she specializes in public affairs, marketing, communication and selected ESG areas. Inspired by Brett Minchington´s approach towards Employer Brand, she has become expert on how to make employer brand attractive. Miroslava successfully used her knowledge in the recruitment campaigns prepared and deployed during her employment in Jaguar Land Rover, Amazon or CRH and in designing corporate employee engagement programs.

Previously as member of different industry organizations and since 2019 as chairwoman of the Board of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic participates in creating favorable business conditions and supporting the positive reputation of the country in the development of business cooperation with the United Kingdom. Currently, she is also a part of COMMUNITY company.

Tatiana has extensive experience in building/setting up/improving processes and teams in the field of human resources as well as business support in all aspects in various sectors (banking, executive search, telecom, FMCG, retail, consulting).After 20 years of working in corporations, she decided to start a new era of working life – she is currently starting her own business with the aim of helping leaders and employees; individuals, corporations and start-ups in the field of personal and professional development; process settings (employee life cycle – onboarding, education and development, compensation and benefits, offboarding, cultures, Employer Brand); HR audit; HR Interim Management and also offer individual & team coaching and mentoring services.Tatiana is a certified business and team coach.She is also engaged in pro bono activities – she cooperates with organizations that support the younger generation (Nexteria Leadership Academy and EduCoach).

Gabriel Dravecký is the chairman of the board of the Slovak Maintenance Society (SSU), which is a non-profit organization that brings together many experts and companies dealing with maintenance with the aim of initiating and supporting the education of people working in maintenance. SSU is a member of the European Community of National Maintenance Companies EFNMS Brussels. SSU is a member of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic and the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies in Slovakia. The Slovak maintenance company, among other activities, is in constant contact with European EFNMS experts, submits European maintenance standards in the Slovak language and brings them to our members for constant contact with the European maintenance trend.

Lenka is a Director in the Vienna EY office and joined EY in 2021. Previously, she was a State Aid Leader at another big 4 Company, a former Director of Strategic Investment Department at the Ministry of Economy of Slovak Republic and Head of Investment Project Management Department at the Slovak Investment and Trade Organization.
During her career, Lenka gained practical experience from her work with the European Commission as well as OECD. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of State Aid law, FDIs, Structuring of cross-country Investments, R&D&I Aid, and the Governing of State Aid, with more than 30 successful projects from the area of Regional Investment Aid.
Lenka has deep knowledge of European Commission notification procedures, ensuring the notification of State Aid for projects.
She is an Official State Aid advisor of several public institutions and Professional Unions in Slovak Republic and a permanent speaker at Foreign Direct Policies Forum and the Joint Vienna Institute.

Long-time head of the Department of Non-Ferrous Metals and Waste Processing and Director of the Institute of Recycling Technologies of the Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling of the Technical University in Košice. Responsible solver of several European and national projects in the field of material recycling of waste. Member of the UNIVNET association and solver of the issue of material recycling of traction accumulators from electromobility. Currently retired.

Ján Klimko is the head of the R&D department at Schaeffler Kysuce, where he has been working for more than 15 years. During his managerial career, he was behind the most important strategic projects in the field of R&D in Kysuce: management of complete local development competence for specialized wheel bearings, launch of new mechatronic products, for example active drive stabilizers, as well as other projects in the field of electromobility.

He is a graduate of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Žilina in the field of applied mechanics. He actively promotes the study of technical fields and supports the connection of theory and practice also in the Young R&D Engineer program, which was successfully launched at Schaeffler Kysuce.

A manager in the tax department of EY, where he has been working for 10 years. He primarily deals with investment assistance and transfer pricing. He helped with several successful projects of obtaining and maintaining investment assistance for his clients.

Zoltán Gyurász is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava. Since 2022, he has been working as an assistant professor at the Institute of Information Technology Law and Intellectual Property Law. He is an international fellow at the Information Society Law Center at the Università degli Studi di Milano and is part of the Expert Map for Ethics and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence at the Permanent Commission for Ethics and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (CERAI). Since 2023, he has been working as Of Counsel for NextGen Legal.

Veronika grew up in Prešov and after 6 years in Prague she have now moved back to home. She studied at Košice Technical University, Faculty of Manufacturing technologies in Prešov. After the studies she worked at the University for 5 years. During last 9 years Veronika have been working in Quality and Procurement departments in various positions, mainly within Supplier Management. Veronika has been working at Volvo Cars since 2017.

7 years industry experience with Chinese manufacture,one of the first batch of Hikrobot as a global product and solution provider specializing in machine vision and mobile robots.

 Focusing on IIoT, smart logistics and smart manufacturing, commit to building an open cooperation ecosystem, providing services to industry and logistics customers, and continuing to promote intelligence and lead the intelligent manufacturing process.

He studied Telecommunication and Radiocommunications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of Žilinský University in Žilina. Doctor of Philosophy in the Field of Telecommunication Research Work Adaptation of Mobile Radiocommunication with the use of channel communication prediction. In 2004, he joined Siemens PSE, where he worked as a tester, developer and project manager in the field of information and communication technologies, in particular the third generation UMTS mobile network. Since 2011 he has been working for M2M Solutions, where he supports as COO the development of products and solutions for production and logistics.

He graduated from the Technical University in Slovakia, focusing on physics and materials.
He worked as a material engineer for the development of high-temperature sensors for automotive in the Czech Republic.
He worked as a product engineer on the development of pneumatic actuators for turbochargers in the Czech Republic.
He created a development center in Slovakia developing silent blocks.
At present, he is Director of Development and Research at ContiTech Vibration Control, the Contitental concern in Germany.