Volkswagen : Autostadt CEO ends active service with Volkswagen

Otto F. Wachs (60), CEO and Managing Director of Autostadt GmbH, is leaving the Group in mutual respect and on the most cordial terms after more than three decades of extremely successful service.

The Volkswagen AG Board of Management and the Group Works Council expressed their sincere thanks to Wachs for his long-standing and exemplary service to the Group. 'Through his exceptional engagement, Otto F. Wachs has made an invaluable contribution to the Group, in particular with the visionary development and realization of the Autostadt as an innovative and unique communication tool that even today is still unparalleled anywhere in the world', the CEO of Volkswagen AG, Matthias Müller, underscored as the top manager ended his active service. Recognizing a further special achievement, Müller also highlighted Wachs' particularly successful continued development and long-standing service-oriented leadership of Autostadt GmbH.

Speaking on behalf of the Group Works Council, its Chairman Bernd Osterloh not only honored Wachs' entrepreneurship, but also paid tribute to his deep social understanding, not least in creating some 2,000 new jobs at the Wolfsburg location. 'Through his work, Wachs has brought significant change to Wolfsburg since 2000', Osterloh said.

'People, cars and what moves them - that is the motto of the Autostadt, and it is a motto that has guided and shaped my entire professional career with Volkswagen. My particular thanks go to my staff for their great commitment to the benefit of the Group. I am sure the foundations we have laid together will bring you a strong and powerful future', Wachs said at his farewell reception.

Wachs began his professional career in public relations at Volkswagen AG in 1983 having completed an internship. Following a period in North America in 1986/87, he assumed responsibility for the international press. He headed the General Secretariat of Dr. Carl H. Hahn, then Chairman of the Board of Management, from 1990 to 1992. When Prof. Dr. Ferdinand K. Piëch took over as Chairman, Wachs first moved to head public relations at the Volkswagen brand in 1993, and additionally took charge of Group public relations from mid-1993. In his capacity as an authorized representative of the Board of Management, he has concentrated on the development and realization of the present-day Autostadt since 1996, becoming its CEO and Managing Director in 1999.

The Autostadt will hold a farewell reception in honor of Otto F. Wachs on August 31, 2017.

Wachs' successor as CEO and Managing Director effective September 1, 2017 is Roland Clement (49), currently Head of Sales and Marketing at Porsche Leipzig GmbH. Clement holds a degree in business administration and has extensive sales knowledge. After various professional appointments, he joined Porsche in 2001, becoming the sales project manager for the Boxster/Cayman model series. He was appointed Head of Sales and Marketing at Porsche Leipzig GmbH in 2007.

Claudius Colsman (48), currently Head of Communications Corporate Responsibility in the Volkswagen Group, will also join the management team with effect from September 1, 2017. Colsman is an economics graduate and joined the Volkswagen Group in 2006. After holding management posts in Communications, e.g. at AUDI AG, he assumed responsibility for the Events und Sponsoring unit at Group Communications in 2007, before becoming Head of Communications Corporate Responsibility in 2014.

Uwe Baunack (62) continues to serve as a member of the management team and CFO of Autostadt. He has held this post since 2011 - in addition to his responsibilities as Head of Controlling Sales and Pricing at the Volkswagen brand which he has held since 2009. Baunack began his career at Volkswagen as a trainee in 1980. He was appointed Head of Finance at Groupe Volkswagen France in 1992. Following posts in France and the United Kingdom, he returned to Volkswagen in 2001 as Head of Finance and Sales South America/South Africa Region. He was appointed CFO of Volkswagen Group UK in 2004.