Speakers

Sigrid de Vries is the Director General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), having taken up position in September 2022. Ms de Vries has long-standing experience working for strategic EU industry sectors – from automobile manufacturers to automotive suppliers, to the construction equipment sector. She has held various external affairs and leadership roles, and has a strong track record in representing industries in times of fast-paced transformation. Prior to her current appointment at ACEA, Sigrid de Vries was Secretary General of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA). She also led the Association of the European Construction Equipment Industry (CECE), and headed the external relations and communications department at CNH Industrial. De Vries previously acted as ACEA’s Director of Communications and Public Relations between 2006 and 2012.A Dutch national, Ms de Vries studied journalism in the Netherlands. She worked for over a decade as a correspondent for a major financial newspaper, reporting from Amsterdam, Brussels and Berlin.

Former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Former President of the European Council. His  current positions include Member of the BoD, SES Tlmače / Slovakia, Senior Advisor of the EP Industries, j.s.c./ Czech Republic, Member of the Supervisory Board of EGEM, s.r.o./Czech Republic, International Development and Public Affairs Director, eustream, j.s.c. / Slovakia, Chairman of the Executive Board of the District Heating Association CZ. 

Mirek Topolánek was born May 15 1956 in Vsetín in the Czech Republic. He has a permanent residence in Prague, he is married, and he has 4 children and 7 grandchildren. Mirek Topolánek was graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University in Brno.  

In 1996 he started his political career as Member of Czech Parliament. From 2006 to 2009 he was the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. In 2009 he was the President of the European Council. In this year he was actively involved in solving the gas crisis in Ukraine and had organized 1th Southern Corridor Summit and hosted 1th Eastern Partnership Summit. Among other things, he was at the origin of the discussion platform of the EU Nuclear Forum. 

After leaving high politics he has been active in energy business, journalistic and educational activities. In 2010 he was a candidate of Czech Republic to International Energy Agency in Paris. In 2018 he was causable unsuccessful in the presidential election in Czech Republic. He is a member of Honorary Advisory Board of the International Democrat Union now.

Wolfram Kirchert is a graduate engineer and a graduate engineer in economics, he worked for the Porsche brand for 25 years. He has extensive professional experience in the field of production and project management, having worked in various management positions, including from 2002 as Head of Outsourced Manufacturing Management, from 2003 as Project Manager for Boxster/Cayman Product Line Production and from 2012 as Head of Project Planning vehicles and plant structure. Since 2018, as head of production planning, he has been responsible for product and process planning across all Porsche plants and product lines. In September 2023, he joined Volkswagen Slovakia as chairman of the board and member of the board of directors for the technical area.

Dr. Robert Kiml has been working at Kolín Toyota since the beginning of the production of the first generation of cars. Throughout the time, he worked in various leadership positions. He managed the operation of the Paint Shop, the Quality department or the project to start the production of the second generation of Kolín models in 2014. In his career, he also worked in the management of Toyota’s sister plant in Poland. He holds the post of vice president in the Association of the Automobile Industry of the Czech Republic.

He heads the External Relations / Environment / Social Services department at Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. In the past, he was responsible for the management of the entire logistics at Volkswagen Slovakia and also held several management positions within the Volkswagen Group in Portugal and the USA. Since 2018, he is the President of the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic (second term). In 2018, he was elected Vice President of the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations.

Ivan Hodač is a Founder and President of the Aspen Institute Prague. He was Secretary-General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) from 2001 until October 2013. He is the Chairman of the Board at cabinet DN. The Financial Times listed him among the most influential personalities in Brussels politics. Before joining ACEA, he was Senior Vice-President and Head of the Time Warner Corporate office for Europe. Previously he was Secretary-General of the trade organization IFMA/IMACE, Senior Economist at Didier & Associates, and Assistant Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. He was born in Prague, where he studied mechanical engineering. He completed his education in economics and political science at the University of Copenhagen and the College of Europe in Bruges (European studies).

Dr. Zhou boasts 23 years of experience in digital servitization and cross-industry innovation within the automotive industry. He has established the Telematics@China Community (TCC) and Tencent Mobility Academy. He has driven advanced digital innovation based on cross-organizational trust by creating a Community of Practice that shared digital knowledge and building digital platform ecosystems. As a founding advisor of projects, he facilitated a strategic joint venture between SAIC Motor and Alibaba Group, leading to the establishment of the unicorn company Banma within just three years and a significant success for the first generation of Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) in China. Dr. Zhou has held several prestigious positions, including Vice President at Alibaba AutoNavi, Senior Vice President at Banma, Dean of Tencent Mobility Academy, and Senior Researcher at Tencent Research Institute.
As Programme Co-Director, he has collaborated with the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) to launch the CEIBS-Tencent Joint Programme for the Automotive Industry. Having successfully delivered two sessions, the third is being planned. Besides offering training programs to automotive executives, Dr. Zhou has provided Telematcs and SDV consulting services to OEMs such as General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, SAIC Motor, Hyundai Kia, SAIC Group, and Great Wall Motor.
A graduate of the Department of Applied Chemistry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a proficiency in Japanese from Keio University, Dr. Zhou also holds an MBA and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) certification from CEIBS. He earned his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from EMLYON Business School in France. His research is dedicated to addressing organizational dysfunctions in the digital transformation of the automotive industry and exploring how Communities of Practice (CoP) can promote organizational changes necessary for SDV.

Petr Knap is the Head of the Consulting Division for the Czech Republic. After having worked at Procter & Gamble, he worked in consulting since 1996, and joined EY in 2002. His professional experience is based mainly on work in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, in the past he also worked for clients in the telecommunications and public sectors. Over the years, he has led management consulting projects focused on strategy development, organizational change, process improvement and cost optimization. Petr is actively involved in initiatives addressing innovative trends of the manufacturing future such as digitization, Industry 4.0, autonomous cars, e-mobility, etc.

She is head of Environment Department at Volkswagen Slovakia. She has been involved in the application of environmental protection in car production for over 17 years – implementing the requirements of legislation and environmental management systems in production processes, design and implementation of environmental strategy or preparation of concepts and plans to reduce environmental impacts for environmental and energy-intensive technologies. As a chairman of the Environmental Legislation Commission of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic, she prepares opinions and proposals for comments on the environmental legislation of the Slovak Republic and the EU. Since 2021, she has been active as a member of the Government Council for the Green European Agreement of the Slovak Republic for the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations. She graduated in Environmental Protection / Geochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, and later in the professional MBA program Automotive Industry of the Technical University of Vienna and the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava.

Mr. Jaroslav Kouril is working nearly 30 years in the human resources sector. His actual position is HR Director for Slovakia in multinational company Faurecia. Faurecia as an important world player in the field of subcontractors in automotive industry and currently employs approximately 2,500 employees in Slovakia. He has large professional experience in multinational corporations in the automotive, industrial and energy sectors, but also in the public sector. He completed his postgraduate degree in financial law at Comenius University and international management studies in Netherlands and Czech Republic.

Currently vice president of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic In the years 2016-2021, he was the president of the Automotive Industry Association of the Czech republic. He also served as a member of the National Economic Council of the Government of the Czech Republic. In the period from 1/2011 to 2/2021, he held the position of a member of the Škoda Auto board of directors for the area of ​​human resources. Before that, from 2006 to 2010, he worked as a member of the board of directors of Volkswagen Slovakia. He also has experience of working for a number of universities as part of scientific or administrative boards.

Vladimír Huťan has more than 17 years of experience in the automotive industry. Since 2020, he has been part of the multinational company HELLA, which is now a member of the FORVIA HELLA Group. He currently serves as Vice President of Operations for the Interior Lighting Division Europe and as Managing Director of HELLA Slovakia Lighting, which operates three plants in Slovakia and employs more than 3,500 people. He has held various leadership positions, including Vice President of Operations Europe for the Lighting Business Group and Country Manager. His extensive experience includes roles in quality management and production across various regions, including Slovakia, China, and Serbia. He earned his engineering degree from the University of Economics in Bratislava.

Petr Dolejsi started his career within the public services on different posts, leaving the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic at the Head of Unit post to the Permanent representation in Brussels in 2004. He became member of the Czech EU Presidency team in 2009 chairing the Competitiveness and Growth working party of the Council. In 2010 he joined ACEA and became a Director for Mobility and Sustainable transport, with a specific focus on CO2 policy, industrial policy and alternative powertrains.