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).

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

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.

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 »

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.