The manager is considered the favorite for the new IT board position at Volkswagen.
(Photo: Dominik Butzmann for Handelsblatt)
Dusseldorf The Volkswagen Group is expected to have its own board member for the new IT department at the beginning of next year. This was confirmed on Wednesday in corporate circles in Wolfsburg. The favorite for the post is Hauke Stars, 54, who was the board member responsible for IT and human resources at Deutsche Börse AG until the end of last year. “Manager Magazin” first reported on the occupation plans.
The VW Group has been looking for a suitable candidate for the newly created IT post for more than a year. In particular, the former works council boss Bernd Osterloh had urged that the IT department be occupied by a woman. But the search dragged on unexpectedly.
Volkswagen negotiated with several applicants, such as Sabina Jeschke, a former IT board member at Deutsche Bahn. In the spring, the appointment of Katrin Suder, former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense, was actually considered safe. But at the last moment the VW supervisory board stopped the appointment of Suder, who had already made a name for herself as a McKinsey advisor before moving to the Ministry of Defense.
There is now consensus in the supreme control body that Hauke Stars should definitely get the new IT post, it said on Wednesday in Wolfsburg. All key members of the supervisory board had spoken out in favor of appointing stars. She not only has the necessary expertise in the IT area, but is also very experienced in organizational and personnel issues.
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However, the appointment of Hauke Stars to the new post is not yet finally secured. On the supervisory board, the employee side combines the appointment of new members to the group management board with other open questions. The focus is on the future of CEO Herbert Diess, which the trade unionists in particular had questioned. On the employee side, the relationship of trust for further cooperation with Diess has been decisively disrupted, because a few weeks ago, for example, the group boss brought up the idea of cutting 30,000 jobs at Volkswagen in Germany.
At the top of the VW group, there must first be clarity
According to this, decisions about new board members should only be made once the future relationship with the CEO has been clarified. In Wolfsburg, the whole thing is seen as a complete package. At the top of the group, there must first be clarity in order to later decide on other board positions, the company said. The next regular meeting of the Supervisory Board is scheduled for December 9th. Then the next investment plan should also be decided by 2025.
In addition to the appointment of Hauke Stars to the IT post, other changes for the group management board are currently being discussed in Wolfsburg. Hiltrud Werner, currently still responsible for integrity and law, is to have a successor on February 1st. There is a high probability that your contract will not be renewed. In addition, VW brand boss Ralf Brandstätter could move up to the group’s executive board.
According to the current company law, Volkswagen needs at least one woman on the Group’s executive board. Since the farewell to Hiltrud Werner has almost been decided, the group with Hauke Stars would continue to meet the statutory minimum quota for women on the board of directors in the future.
Hauke Stars comes from Saxony-Anhalt and studied engineering in Magdeburg. Before joining Deutsche Börse, she worked for a number of companies, including Bertelsmann, Thyssen-Krupp and Hewlett Packard.
More: Hardened fronts in the supervisory board: dispute over Herbert Diess blocked VW