Karsten Schnake will commence his duties as part of the ŠKODA AUTO Board of Management on 1 July 2020. Previously, he was Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group China, responsible for strategic procurement and all of the group brands’ purchasing in the country. ŠKODA AUTO’s new Board Member for Purchasing joined the group in 1996 as an employee in Volkswagen AG’s project management department. From 2004 to 2006 he was Head of Procurement at Volkswagen Group Italy in Verona. Prior to moving to China, Mr Schnake was based in Wolfsburg between 2006 and 2018 gaining extensive experience in Volkswagen AG’s global series coordination as well as capacity, cost and process management.
Dieter Seemann has been a member of the ŠKODA AUTO Board of Management since October 2014. Previously, he headed SEAT’s procurement for four years as a member of the Spanish brand’s executive board. Prior to that, he was the company’s Executive Vice President responsible for Finances, Organisation and IT. His career within Volkswagen AG began in 1985 in Wolfsburg as project manager in procurement for engine launches. From 1989 to 1992, he was the head of purchasing at Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive in China. The industrial engineer then returned to Wolfsburg. In 1996, he took over as Head of Forward/Global Sourcing at Volkswagen de México, becoming Vice President of Purchasing in 1999. This was followed by positions as Head of Procurement for New Product Launches at Volkswagen AG from 2001 to 2005 and as Deputy Managing Director & Commercial Executive Director at Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive between 2005 and 2009.
ŠKODA AUTO CEO, Bernhard Maier, said, “On behalf of the board, I would like to welcome Karsten Schnake to the ŠKODA Management Team. With him, we are gaining a proven expert in procurement and I look forward to working together. At the same time, I would like to thank Dieter Seemann for his great commitment. Over the past six years, he has succeeded in building and further developing strong and trusting relationships with our network of suppliers as Chief Procurement Officer. I thank him for his outstanding work and wish him all the best for the next stage in his life, and, above all, good health as well as continued creativity.”
