Hiltrud Werner

Hiltrud Dorothea Werner (born 1966) is a German business executive. She is the lone woman on Volkswagen AG's Board of Management, serving as the head of integrity and legal affairs. As one of three women from East Germany to serve on the board of a company from Germany's DAX stock index, she is also a public advocate for equal pay and equal opportunity for women.[1][2]

Hiltrud Dorothea Werner
Born (1966-04-16) 16 April 1966
Bad Doberan, East German
EducationMartin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg
Occupation(s)Member of the Board of Management responsible for Integrity and Legal Affairs, Volkswagen AG

Early life and education

Werner was born in Bad Doberan, East Germany, on 16 April 1966.[3] Both of her parents worked in church service: her father was a deacon in a nursing home and her mother was a secretary.[1]

Werner graduated high school in Apolda,[4] then completed an apprenticeship as a skilled worker in textile technology in Mühlhausen, Thuringia, in 1985.[3] She studied "Mathematical Methods and Data Processing in Business" at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, where she received a degree in economics in 1989.[1][5]

Career

Werner began her career in 1991 as a project manager at the consulting firm Softlab GmbH in Munich, shortly after moving to West Germany.[1][6] At the time, most women who had children did not work outside the home in West Germany, and out of the firm's 850 employees she was the only mother working full-time.[4]

In 1996, Werner moved to BMW AG where she held various positions during her tenure including head of the IT department of BMW Bank,[5][7] head of the BMW AG audit department for the United Kingdom and Ireland, and head of group internal audit.[6] She relocated to the United Kingdom in 2003 to audit internally for Rolls-Royce, Mini, and BMW factory and its subsidiaries.[3][7] Werner returned to Germany in 2007 and led the internal audit department of BMW's worldwide group financial services.[7]

In 2011, she joined MAN SE as chief audit executive for the MAN Group.[6] Werner became head of group internal audit at the automotive manufacturing company ZF Friedrichshafen in 2014.[6]

In 2016, Werner joined Volkswagen Group as head of group audit[6][7] and was appointed to Volkswagen's board of management, responsible for integrity and legal affairs in 2017.[5][2] In her role at Volkswagen, Werner oversees the compliance and integrity teams for Volkswagen and its 12 brands.[7] She was tasked with restructuring the compliance culture to ensure that the Volkswagen emissions scandal or a similar crisis would not happen again.[7][2] Werner is also a member of the supervisory board of Audi AG, Porsche AG, Seat SA, and Traton SE.[8][9]

Werner is part of a small minority of women and East German business executives serving on the boards of German companies.[10][4] She is the first East German and second woman ever to serve on the Volkswagen Group board of management.[4] As of 2019, she is one of three women from East Germany who serve on the board of a DAX company, out of approximately 200 board members of the 30 companies on the index.[1][10] She is an advocate for equal pay and equal opportunities for women.[2]

Other activities

Recognition

In 2019, Werner received the "Mentor Award of the Year for Advancement of Women in Compliance" from C5 Communications.[15]

Personal life

Werner is married and has two children.[8]

References
  1. Hähnig, Anne (11 August 2018). "Am Anfang fand ich's krass". Die Zeit. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  2. Miller, Joe (17 March 2019). "Mopping up Dieselgate: The boss transforming Volkswagen". BBC News. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  3. Stahl, Stefan (8 June 2019). "VW-Managerin Hiltrud Werner vergleicht Diesel-Skandal mit Herzinfarkt". Augsburger Allgemeine. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  4. Nezik, Ann-Kathrin (13 March 2018). "Warum so wenige Ostdeutsche Karriere machen". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  5. Heitkamp, Sven (6 November 2018). "Frau, Ostdeutsche, trotzdem weit oben". Sächsische Zeitung. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  6. Barmettler, Stefan (1 February 2019). "VW-Managerin: "Diesel-Skandal beschäftigt Tausende Mitarbeiter"". Handelszietung. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  7. Coffin, Bill (January 2018). "Hiltrud Werner has a need for speed". Compliance Week.
  8. "Hiltrud D. Werner". Her-career.com. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  9. McGee, Patrick (23 July 2018). "Firing Audi chief would 'humiliate' him, says VW board member". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  10. Menzel, Stefan (22 August 2019). "Hiltrud Werner: "Volkswagen must remain permanently scandal-free"". Handelsblatt.
  11. Eva Schmid (16 July 2020), Stiftung Garnisonkirche Potsdam: VW-Vorständin Hiltrud Werner neues Mitglied im Kuratorium Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten.
  12. Fünf neue Mitglieder ins Kuratorium der VolkswagenStiftung berufen Volkswagen Foundation, press release of 2 September 2019.
  13. International Advisory Council European School of Management and Technology (ESMT).
  14. Organization Goethe Institute.
  15. "2019 Winners". C5 Online. C5 Communications. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
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