Management board restructure

The automotive supplier restructures its management team.  Executive Vice President Purchasing Yanni von Roy-Jiang replaces Dr. Silke Maurer. Jan Henning Mehlfeldt, Executive Vice President Roof Europe takes over from Freddy Geeraerds.

Stockdorf – August 11, 2022 – The Webasto Group is continuing its transformation by setting the course for a sustainable and successful future with a new management team. Two internal candidates are promoted to the management board: With Yanni von Roy-Jiang (42), currently Executive Vice President Purchasing, the company welcomes an Asian to the management board team for the first time. As Chief Operating Officer, she assumes global responsibility for production, purchasing and quality for the Webasto Group from Dr. Silke Maurer (49), who will leave the company as of August 31, 2022. Jan Henning Mehlfeldt (53), currently Executive Vice President for the European roof market, will take responsibility for the global roof business in the future. He will succeed Freddy Geeraerds (62) on November 1, 2022, whose contract comes to an end on October 31, 2022. Together with the Chairman of the Management Board Dr. Holger Engelmann, Chief Financial Officer Arne Kolfenbach and Chief Technology Officer Marcel Bartling, von Roy-Jiang and Mehlfeldt will form the five-member management board in the future.

Answers to the current challenges

After building up the new fields of business – which focus on electromobility – and successfully establishing them as a second main pilar, it’s now important for Webasto to energetically drive forward the classic core business with roof, heating and cooling systems – as well as the new fields of business. The challenges the automotive supplier is facing in all of these areas have intensified significantly in recent years. This is due to the dynamics in the field of electromobility on the one hand, and the pandemic, coupled with supply shortages, on the other. In view of current economic-political developments, Webasto also intends to position itself even more regionally, robust and agile. “It is just consequent for our company to not only drive our transformation in the field of electrification, but also adjust to the changed framework conditions with adapted responsibilities and a stronger focus within our management team,” says Dr. Holger Engelmann, Chairman of the Webasto Group Management Board,  “I am proud that, with Yanni von Roy-Jiang, we are bringing an executive to our management board from within our own ranks who has been successful for many years and who knows both Webasto and the Chinese market very well.”

Yanni von Roy-Jiang has been with the Webasto Group for 13 years and currently holds the position of Executive Vice President Purchasing & Supplier Quality. Since the start of the corona pandemic in particular, the graduate in business administration has rendered outstanding services to the successful management and competitively designing of supply chains. The Chinese-born manager previously worked for Webasto in Shanghai as Vice President Finance and Controlling and Chief Financial Officer. As controller, she was also responsible for the Asia region.

Yanni von Roy-Jiang succeeds Dr. Silke Maurer, who has decided to leave Webasto for personal reasons. “We are very grateful to Silke Maurer, because in the short time she has been with us, she has channeled her energy into providing many excellent approaches and giving valuable impetus that will help us to further develop Webasto. We wish her all the best for the future,” underlines Engelmann.

Expansion plans for the largest business unit

Last year, Webasto generated sales of 3.1 billion euros with its roof systems, representing 83 percent of total sales. The company offers custom-fit roof solutions for all types of vehicles, including specific architectures such as for electrified vehicles and trends like autonomous driving. In order to continue expanding the market leadership of Webasto, member of the management board Freddy Geeraerds and Jan Henning Mehlfeldt, in his current role as Executive Vice President Roof Europe, have jointly developed a roof strategy to sustainably lead the largest business unit into the future. In line with succession planning, Jan Henning Mehlfeldt will take over Freddy Geeraerds’ position on the management board as of
November 1, 2022, and will implement these plans as the person with global responsibility for the roof business. Engelmann explains: “The owners, the supervisory board and the entire management board team would like to express their sincere gratitude to Freddy Geeraerds for his outstanding commitment and exceptional management performance for the Webasto Group   especially for his efforts in successfully developing our Asian business. We are pleased that he will continue be available to Webasto in an advisory capacity in the coming years and will support the successful transformation of our business, drawing on his many years of experience.”

Jan Henning Mehlfeldt has held executive positions at the Webasto Group for more than ten years and leads for the European roof business. Before that, as President China, he was responsible for the automotive supplier’s largest single market and for global purchasing. Having previously held positions at Faurecia Automotive Seating and Grammer AG, the graduate in business administration has gained extensive knowledge of the automotive supply industry. “We have found an extremely competent successor to Freddy Geeraerds in Jan Henning Mehlfeldt. With his passion for the roof business he will continue our way of becoming a successful All-Roof Company,” comments Engelmann.