Speakers


Sigrid de Vries

Director General, ACEA

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.


Oliver Grünberg

Chairman of the Board of Management and Member of the Board of Management, Production, Volkswagen Slovakia

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.


Rüdiger Lentz

Senior advisor, Rud Pedersen Public Affairs

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.


Štefan Rosina

President, MATADOR Group

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.


Alexander Matušek

President, Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak republic

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 Hodáč

Event host, founder of Aspen Institute Central Europe, former ACEA Secretary-General

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).


Dietmar Weigt

Chairman of the Management Board, ZF Slovakia

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 Kovařík

Member of the European Parliament

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, Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia

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.


Róbert Baumgartner

CEO, Hyundai Motor Slovakia

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.


Jens Hörning

Partner, PwC Slovakia, CEE Automotive Industry Leader

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.


Jo Leinen

Former Minister of Environment and Member of the European Parliament
Jo Leinen studied law and economics in Saarbrücken/Bonn, was several years lawyer in Freiburg, Minister for Environment in Saarland, Member of the European
Parliament, Chair of the ENVI and AFCO Committees, Chair of the China Delegation of the EP, Honorary President of European Movement International (EMI).


David Kříž

General Director, Iveco Czech Republic

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.


Ivan Kebísek

Engineering Director, Site Lead of Technical Center in Slovakia, Yanfeng International Automotive Technology

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.


Martin Morháč

founder, Intelligent Industry Association - Industry 4UM

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.


Jan Macek

Professor, Center of Vehicles for Sustainable Mobility, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague

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).


Martin Jančo

CEO, M2M Solutions

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.

 


Ján Cholvadt

General manager, Kongsberg Automotive Vráble

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.


Michaela Hletková Ploszeková

Chairman of the Commission for Environmental Legislation, Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic

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

Campus & Automotive Plant Manager, Schaeffler Kysuce

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.


František Simančík

Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, Slovak Academy of Sciences

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.


Juraj Sinay

Professor & Coordinator of hydrogen technologies in the Slovak Republic, Technical University of Košice

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.


Milan Lokšík

Solution Architect, SOVA Digital

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.


Radovan Benkovský

Solution Architect, SOVA Digital

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.


Vladimír Švač

Innovation Specialist, SOVA Digital

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.


Tomáš Zaťko

Ethical Hacker, CEO, CITADELO

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.


Rudolf Ivan

founder of Roriginal

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, Planning & Marketing Department, Master Transportation Bus Manufacturing

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.


Patrik Križanský

Director, Slovak Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA)

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

Head of Production Group, Kia Slovakia

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.


Martin Morháč

Chairman of the Board, SOVA Digital

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.


Pavel Schudich

Project manager, MDM Slovakia

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.

Past Speakers


Sigrid de Vries

Director General, ACEA

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.


Jeffrey Liker

University of Michigan, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering

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.


Thomas A. Schmid

Chief Operating Officer, Hyundai Motor Europe

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.


Matthias Erb

Head of Holistic User Experience, Volkswagen AG

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.


Oliver Grünberg

Chairman of the Board of Management and Member of the Board of Management, Production, Volkswagen Slovakia

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

Chair of European Public Affairs, Brunswick

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.


Gary Hamel

American management expert, London Business School

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.


Rüdiger Lentz

Senior advisor, Rud Pedersen Public Affairs

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.


Štefan Rosina

President, MATADOR Group

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.


Alexander Matušek

President, Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak republic

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 Hodáč

Event host, founder of Aspen Institute Central Europe, former ACEA Secretary-General

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).


Martin Koers

Head of Economic Policy and Climate Protection Department, German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA)

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

Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union

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

Operations Director, Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia

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.


Karl-Friedrich Wörsdörfer

Vice President Product Development HBS, Continental Teves AG

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


Stefan Deix

Director, European Council for Automotive R&D - EUCAR

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.


Dietmar Weigt

Chairman of the Management Board, ZF Slovakia

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 Kovařík

Member of the European Parliament

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, Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia

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.


Zdenek Tuma

Partner, KPMG Czech Republic, former guvernor of Czech National Bank

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.


Peter Žiga

Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic

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


Stéphane Bonhommeau

Managing director, PSA Groupe plant in Trnava

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 »


Ralf Sacht

Chairman of the board, Volkswagen Slovakia


Jo Leinen

Former Minister of Environment and Member of the European Parliament
Jo Leinen studied law and economics in Saarbrücken/Bonn, was several years lawyer in Freiburg, Minister for Environment in Saarland, Member of the European
Parliament, Chair of the ENVI and AFCO Committees, Chair of the China Delegation of the EP, Honorary President of European Movement International (EMI).


David Kříž

General Director, Iveco Czech Republic

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.


Rohit Talwar

Fast Future, director

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.


Martin Hrdlicka

Head of the Chassis and Powertain Development, ŠKODA Auto

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


Ján Uriga

Senior Manager for Innovations & Strategic Change Advisory, PricewaterhouseCoopers Slovakia

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.


Jay Nagley

R&D Specialist - Automotive Team at the Department for International Trade, UK

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.


Jonathan Carrier

Vice President of Corporate Development, AeroMobil


Christoph Stürmer

Global Lead Analyst Autofacts, PwC Germany

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.


Jong Hun Kim

Director of Development, LG Chem Poland

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


Jan Macek

Professor, Center of Vehicles for Sustainable Mobility, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague

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).


Carlos Navas

Strategy Officer, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking


Andreas Maashoff

Director Industrial Design & Research, Adient


Simon Garbett

Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

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.

 


Vincent Abadie

Senior-Expert of Autonomous Vehicles Project, Groupe PSA


Pavel Kysilka

founder, 6D Academy, former Czech National Bank governor

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.


Thomas Hipke

Head of the Department of Lightweight Functional Structures, Fraunhofer IWU

Researcher at Fraunhofer Institute (Germany) for Machine Tools and Forming Technology for a long time.

Expert in metal foaming, fibre reinforced plastics, hybrid materials and light weight design.


Dae-Sik Kim

President and CEO, Kia Motors Slovakia

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.


Dusan Valient

Technology Center Leader in Trenčín

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.