Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt

The Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board appointed Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt as member of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management responsible for Technology as of 1 January 2021.

Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt was born in Frankfurt on 9 January 1964. After leaving school, he studied business management and labour and organisational psychology at the University of Giessen.

The business administration graduate joined the Volkswagen Group in 1991. Following posts in industrial engineering in Wolfsburg, Mexico and South Africa, Schmall-von Westerholt moved to Volkswagen do Brasil in 1999, becoming manager of the Curitiba plant one year later.

Mr Schmall-von Westerholt joined Volkswagen Slovakia as Board member for Technology in 2003, becoming Chairman of the Volkswagen Slovakia Board of Management based at the Bratislava plant two years later.

Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt was appointed CEO of Volkswagen do Brasil in 2007. He also held the post of Vice President of the São Paulo German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce between 2009 and 2013 and was then elected President of the Chamber until March 2015.

Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt was appointed member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management responsible for Components effective 1 January 2015. Thomas Schmall-von Westerholt has been CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, an autonomous corporate unit under the umbrella of Volkswagen AG, since 1 January 2019. In this role he supervised the transformation of the division into a stand-alone unit. Mr Schmall-von Westerholt shaped this transition, above all, with an eye on adequate return on investment to ensure self-financing in all business areas. Under central management, Components increased its competitiveness, achieved synergies, optimised plant utilisation and investment planning - with the objective of making a lasting positive and sustainable value contribution to the Volkswagen Group’s operating profit.

As the member of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management responsible for Technology, Mr Schmall-von Westerholt is, as of 1 January 2021, responsible throughout the Group for all activities at Volkswagen Group Components of which he remains Chairman of the Board of Management. New developments include the marketing of Volkswagen modular toolkits to third parties, the cross-brand responsibility for the development and production of battery cells and systems as well as the corresponding procurement processes. The Board-level management function for Technology also has the global responsibility for Charging and Energy.