ZF Global Supplier Summit 2023

Member of the Board of Management of the ZF Group Commercial Vehicle Technology, Commercial Vehicle Control Systems, Industrial Technology, Materials Management Having studied mechanical engineering, he started his career at LOKOMA, a provider of business facilities. 1984 he moved on to become head of the assembly department at the AGCO/ Fendt group of companies in 1984, which is the biggest manufacturer of tractors and agricultural machinery worldwide.

For almost two decades, Wilhelm Rehm held various management positions at several locations of the group of companies. In 2003, he joined ZF Passau GmbH as Managing Director responsible for Production and Materials Management. In 2010, he assumed the role of Chairman of the Board in Passau and became a Member of the Board of Management of the ZF Group, responsible for the Off-Road Driveline Technology and Axle Systems Division.

Wilhelm Rehm has been a member of the Board of Management of the ZF Group since 2012 and responsible for Commercial Vehicle Technology, Commercial Vehicle Control Systems, Industrial Technology and Materials Management.

Michael Karrer studied International Business Administration in Innsbruck (Austria) and Louvain (Belgium) and worked for 5 years as a research assistant and received his doctor’s degree with a thesis on Supply Chain Performance Management.

He joined ZF in 2006 and worked for 5 years in the field of strategic logistics, leading projects on inventory optimization, delivery performance and lean logistics in several of ZF’s global sites. For three years he served as project lead for the industrialization of a truck transmission in Hangzhou China. From 2014 to 2016, Michael was responsible for supplier management at ZF Group, focusing on supplier quality performance, risk management, and also supply chain sustainability.

Since January 2021, he is the global lead for sustainability and EHS. He is convinced that sustainability is not only about complying with regulations but must also be an integral part of the business strategy. By embedding sustainability in processes and decision-making, it is possible to interlink long-term business success with a company’s responsibility for society and the environment.

After graduating as an industrial engineer, Oliver Ganser began his career at the BMW Group in the Technology Office in Palo Alto in 2001. From 2002 to 2011, he held various positions in purchasing, R&D and innovation management, as well as BMW's automotive product management in Munich. From 2011 to 2015, he was Head of Product Strategy and Product Management at BMW USA in Woodcliff Lake. From 2015 to 2017, he took over the function of Global Head of Customer Care Management in Munich. In 2017, he became Head of the Performance Next program Initiative Quality and Digitalization. In this role, he laid the foundation for cross-company collaborative and data-based cooperation.

Oliver Ganser has been Head of Program for the Industry Platform at BMW AG since Nov 2020 and he has been Chairman of the Board Catena-X e.V. & Head of the Consortium Catena-X Automotive Network since 2021.

Joerg Schaupp, Senior Vice President ZF Group, leads the Global Commodity Organization of direct and indirect spend for ZF Group since June 2016. He leads a global team responsible for Part Family Strategies, all new Sourcing Decisions and all existing Supplier Contract Negotiations. He brings three decades of automotive profit & loss experience in purchasing, supply chain, material and program management at OEM and Tier 1 companies. Prior to ZF Group he served in various Purchasing functions with TRW Automotive. He began his career at General Motors and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Applied Science Schweinfurt/ Germany.

Having studied mechanical engineering in Saarbruecken and industrial engineering in Ludwigshafen, he started his career at Robert Bosch GmbH in Special Machinery Production. In 2000 he moved to Schaeffler, an automotive supplier, assuming various management roles within purchasing. His last position at Schaeffler was Vice President Corporate Purchasing Production Material, before moving to ZF Group in 2019.

Since January 2021 he is responsible for the Corporate Supplier Management of the ZF group, including supplier risk management and sustainability in the supply chain. Michael is located in Schweinfurt, Germany.

After graduating in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Schweinfurt, Bernd Stockmann began his work in 1991 as Design Engineer at Fichtel & Sachs AG in Schweinfurt. In 1994 he moved as Customer Account Manager Engineering to Sachs Automotive of America, Troy (MI). After 2 years back in Schweinfurt he took over the responsibility as Key Account Manager Pass Car Clutch Systems for BMW and Chrysler and later VW Group.

In 1999 he decided to move to Temic Telefunken microelectronic GmbH, Nürnberg where he started as Director of Sales for Powertrain Electronics. Shortly after his start Temic was taken over by Continental AG. In the following years he held several positions at Continental AG and was also part of the integration teams for Motorola Automotive and Siemens VDO. His last position at Continental AG was Head of Business Unit Transmission and Executive Director of Conti Temic microelectronic GmbH, Nuremberg.

Since 2009 he has worked for ZF Friedrichshafen AG where he started as Head of Business Unit Truck Transmissions. After 4 years he became Head of Division Car Powertrain Technology in Saarbruecken. Since 2019 he is in charge of Corporate Program Purchasing & Supply Chain Management and operating out of Friedrichshafen.

After graduating in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, John Sobeck began his work in 1994 as Project Manager Continuous Improvement Process at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in Stuttgart. In 1989 he moved to ZF Friedrichshafen AG as Senior Manager Total Quality Management. In 2001 he took over responsibility for the group as Vice President of Global eBusiness in order to prepare the company for the first wave of digitization. From 2004 to 2008 he was also a member of the Board of Directors of Odette International Limited and in 2005 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The next challenge at ZF followed in 2007 in his new role as Head of Corporate Supply Chain Management. With the takeover of TRW in 2015, he became part of the integration team with a focus on processes and systems of Material Management. Since the end of 2016, he has also been driving the Group's digitalization strategy as Digital Champion for Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. In addition to his current roles, he represents ZF at the SupplyOn AG Shareholder Group.

After studying process engineering, Michael Prinz began his professional career as an application engineer at BASF AG in Ludwigshafen. He took on various technical tasks in the Dispersions division. Most recently as sales manager for process chemicals and dispersions based in Milan, Italy. In 2008 he joined the Engineering Plastics division, where he took on various management positions in marketing and business management.

Michael Prinz has been Head of Marketing Transportation in the European Business Unit of Performance Materials, BASF SE, since 2015. In this role, he is responsible for implementing the sustainability strategy for Engineering Plastics and Polyurethanes in the transportation industry.

Dipl. Ing. Michaela Kraus studied polymer engineering at the University of Leoben. She has been working for voestalpine Stahl for 25 years. From 1996 onwards, she carried out various activities in R&D and quality control. In the following 20 years Michaela worked in the product management for high-strength steels and the marketing segment for the automotive industry.

Since October 2020 she is responsible for Product Management sustainability at voestalpine Steel Division.

Jens Müller-Belau was appointed as the Managing Director Transition Manager for Shell in Germany in August 2021. Since March 2018 Jens held the role of Energy Transition Manager, actively driving the transformation agenda for Shell in Germany. With a strong external focus, the role integrates ongoing Shell activities across various businesses, supporting Shell’s CO2 reduction ambition, which is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In this role Jens leads the profiling and positioning of future business opportunities and associated medium- and longer-term options across all Shell businesses in Germany.

Before he was the Managing Director for Shell Global Solutions Deutschland GmbH, leading the Shell Technology Centre in Hamburg, a global centre of expertise with 300 people. He also was a member of the Board for CRI Deutschland GmbH, a Shell catalyst manufacturer in Germany and held the global role as General Manager for Innovation in Fuels Technology.

Jens completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering and he began his career in Shell as a fuels scientist in 1996 at Shell Technology Centre Hamburg.

Koen Beckers has been the CEO of the ae group ag, a European HPDC and machining group for the automotive market, since May 2020. Beckers draws on over 20 years of management experience in different industries and roles.

After studying Computer Science and Administration at the KU Leuven (Belgium), Koen Beckers began his professional career at Philips in the Organization & Efficiency department. Five years later he went back to his roots of ICT, where he worked in several companies, always at the level of program and escalation management or at a senior VP level of bigger software programs worldwide. In 2009 he made the switch to the production industry and performed senior executive roles on a Tier 2 and Tier 1 level.

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