TITLE: President Digital Business and Mobility Services

COMPANY: Cariad

BASED: Wolfsburg, Germany

AGE: 53

NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Knut Kroesche holds a degree in economics from the University of Cologne. He started his career at Volkswagen Group in 2008 at Seat Germany, where he was head of sales. He then moved to VW Financial Services in 2011 as head of international fleet. In 2017 he became a managing director at Volkswagen Leasing. In August 2020, Kroesche joined Cariad, VW’s software company, in his current position as president of digital business and mobility services.

REASON FOR WINNING

Knut Kroesche is helping to develop the “software-defined car” at Volkswagen Group’s independent software company, Cariad. He and his team are responsible for intelligent software and data analysis methods used to collect and evaluate vehicle data. That data in turn helps VW acquire new knowledge and develop new services or improved products.

In his role as leader of the digital business and mobility services business unit at Cariad, Kroesche and his team have delivered integral digital solutions such as a platform for intermodal mobility, mobile online services, a central e-commerce platform, a fully integrated stack of enablers for digital business -- and most important, rolled those products out to major markets.