Hans Dieter Pötsch (born 28 March 1951) is an Austrian businessman, the chairman of the executive board of Porsche SE, and chairman of the supervisory board of

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

since 2015, when he succeeded

Ferdinand Piëch Ferdinand Karl Piëch (; 17 April 1937 – 25 August 2019) was an Austrian business magnate, engineer, and executive who held the positions of chairman of the executive board (''Vorstandsvorsitzender'') of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002 ...

Life and career

Pötsch was born on 28 March 1951, in

Traun Traun () is an Austrian municipality located on the north bank of the Traun (river), river Traun and borders Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, to the east. The name ''Traun'' is derived from the Celtic word for river (). Traun is the fifth la ...

near

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Austria. Pötsch studied

engineering management Engineering management is the application of engineering methods, tools, and techniques to business management systems. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organi ...

at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt. He began his career at

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, where he worked between 1979 and 1987. He then moved to

Trumpf Trumpf SE + Co. KG is a German family-owned company based in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. It originates from Julius Geiger's mechanical workshop. The Trumpf and Leibinger families transformed the medium-sized company into a gl ...

Ditzingen Ditzingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ditzenge'') is a town in the Ludwigsburg (district), district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km northwest of Stuttgart, and 12 km southwest of Ludwigs ...

. From 1991 to 1995, Pötsch was chairman of the board at Traub AG in Reichenbach. From July 1995 until the end of 2002, Pötsch was chairman of the board of management at Dürr AG in Stuttgart. In 2003, Pötsch became chief financial officer of

Volkswagen AG Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony ...

. Since November 2009, Pötsch has additionally been a board member for finance at Porsche Automobil Holding. He held the position until 2015, when he was appointed chairman of the executive board at Porsche, succeeding

Martin Winterkorn Martin Winterkorn (born 24 May 1947) is a German former business executive who served as chairman of the board of management ( CEO, ''Vorstandsvorsitzender'' in German) of Volkswagen AG, the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, as well as ch ...

. Following the resignation of

, Pötsch additionally became chairman of the supervisory board at Volkswagen in 2015. His nomination came at the behest of the Porsche and Piëch families, who together control a majority of VW's voting shares via the Porsche holding company. Frank Witter became Pötsch's successor as CFO at Volkswagen. In 2016, a German

market manipulation In economics and finance, market manipulation occurs when someone intentionally alters the supply or demand of a security to influence its price. This can involve spreading misleading information, executing misleading trades, or manipulating ...

probe into the

Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

expanded to include Pötsch. In October 2019, Pötsch was elected President of the German Chamber of Commerce in Austria. In December 2021, Pötsch's mandate at Porsche was extended until the end of 2026.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Autostadt The () is a visitor attraction adjacent to the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, with a prime focus on automobiles. The complex was designed by Henn GmbH. It features a museum, feature pavilions for the principal automobile brands in ...

, chairman of the supervisory board *

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

, member of the supervisory board (since 2011) *

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, member of the supervisory board (since 2009) *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

, member of the advisory board * Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), member of the advisory board2015 Annual Report
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW).

Non-profit organizations

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whi ...

, member of the board of trustees

References

1951 births Austrian businesspeople Living people {{Austria-business-bio-stub Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni