Eurostars 2018

TITLE: CEO 
COMPANY: Continental 
BASED: Hanover, Germany 
AGE: 59 
NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Degenhart began his automotive career at ITT in 1993. He joined Continental in 1998 as executive vice president for electronic brake systems. He moved to Robert Bosch to be president of chassis systems in 2004. A year later he joined Keiper Recaro Group as CEO, a post he held until 2008, when he became president of Schaeffler’s automotive operations. In August 2009, he was named CEO at Continental. 

REASON FOR WINNING Degenhart has led an internal reassessment at Continental, ranked No. 4 on Automotive News Europe’s list of Top 100 global suppliers. As a result, Continental plans to carve out its powertrain unit as a separate business entity and sell part of the unit to investors as early as mid-2019. The company also said it could sell a stake in its rubber division.