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TITLE: Chairman of the Board of Management 
COMPANY: Robert Bosch
BASED: Gerlingen, Germany
AGE: 57
NATIONALITY: German

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

A native of Dortmund, Germany, Stefan Hartung holds a PhD in engineering from RWTH Aachen University. He started his career at Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology in 1994 and in 1996 became an associate at McKinsey, where he worked in Germany and the U.S. Hartung joined BSH, the appliance company, in 2004, rising to senior vice president. He moved to Bosch Power Tools in 2008, and served as president of the division from 2009-14. In 2013 he became a member of the Bosch board of management for building technology and energy, and in 2019 he was named head of the mobility solutions business sector. He was named chairman of the board in January 2022.

REASONS FOR WINNING

The supplier sector has been particularly challenged in recent years, with the coronavirus pandemic and chip shortage disruption regional and global supply chains. Suppliers large and small are also responding to the transition to electrification and a new focus on software and power electronics. Under Hartung, Robert Bosch, the world’s largest supplier, has been one of the most nimble players in the sector.

In the biggest move this year, Hartung reorganized Mobility Solutions, Bosch’s largest unit, into Bosch Mobility. Bosch Mobility’s growth engines will include automotive software, which Bosch says has been growing by “double digits” in recent years, and is expected to have a global market value of 200 billion euros by 2030, three times what it is now. Bosch says the reorganization of its mobiity business will help various units work together better and faster, citing the example of a new vehicle stabilizing system that can reduce braking distance. Other initiatives under Hartung include an expansion of its own wafer fab in Reutlingen, Germany, and a $1.5 billion investment in TSI Semiconductors to make it a hub for silicon carbide chip production in the U.S.