Dr. Ralf Voß, Stefan Gottschlag and Chris Wenzel join the Management Board - additional location in Dresden for 120 new high-tech jobs
Dresden/Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale. Due to its strong market growth, the management of Preh Car Connect GmbH, Dresden, will receive new members and be expanded. As of July 1, 2016, Dr. Ralf Voß (53) will assume the role of CEO. He succeeds Peter Kohlschmidt, who is leaving the Management Board. Until now, Voß has been the Managing Director of Knorr-Bremse, Systeme für Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH (SfS), Munich.
Before that, he held various management positions at the automotive supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., Lippstadt and Daimler AG, Stuttgart. In addition to his doctorate in the field of physical chemistry, Dr. Voß is also a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
On July 1, 2016, Stefan Gottschlag (36) will also join the management of Preh Car Connect GmbH. He is taking over the newly created Product Development (CTO) division. Gottschlag has already been working for Preh Car Connect and its predecessor for around three and a half years as Head of Development. The Master of Science has previously been the Managing Director and leading software developer of an IT start-up.
In the autumn of 2016, Chris Wenzel (40) will take over the commercial field (CFO) of the management of Preh Car Connect GmbH. The graduate economist (TU Dresden) was most recently the Commercial Manager/Authorized Signatory of Freiberger Compound Materials GmbH, a leading semiconductor raw material producer. Before that, her positions include Director of Controlling at the solar module manufacturer Solarwatt AG, Dresden. Wenzel succeeds the long-standing Preh manager Rui Marques Dias (59), who took over as interim CFO of Preh Car Connect in May 2016 and will now focus on his work as Managing Director of Preh GmbH in Bad Neustadt.
The new management team is completed by Benjamin Lobenz (36), who has been responsible as COO for production processes and locations since early May. Lobenz has previously held management positions in production and logistics within the Preh Group, most recently as Works Director at the factory in Bad Neustadt.
The Chairman of the Preh Holding Management Board, Christoph Hummel, commented on the new Preh Car Connect GmbH board members as follows: “With the new, extended management team, we are reacting to the dynamic sales development of Preh Car Connect and aligning the company with a view towards its planned growth story within the Preh Group. Preh is pleased to have gained Dr. Ralf Voß, a proven expert in the automotive sector with considerable international experience. Together with Stefan Gottschlag, Benjamin Lobenz and Chris Wenzel, the management of Preh Car Connect will form a powerful team. At the same time, I wish to thank Peter Kohlschmidt for his work and support during the transition period from TechniSat Automotive to the new Preh Car Connect.”
Dynamic growth and additional location in Dresden
In the current business year, Preh Car Connect GmbH has achieved strong growth in sales, showing a double-figure percentage increase in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period the previous year.
For the entire year 2015, the predecessor company achieved sales of EUR 400 million, which also represented double-figure growth.
Preh Car Connect is reacting to the dynamic growth by creating a total of 120 new high-tech jobs in Dresden. Since no expansion was possible in the short term at the Dresden headquarters on the Merbitz industrial estate, the company rented new office space to the northwest of Dresden. From July 2016, around 100 developers/engineers will begin working there.
Christoph Hummel: “The new Preh Car Connect represents an excellent supplement to the core business of the Preh Group. Together, we gain competencies in the field of Human Machine (HMI) systems, car infotainment, connectivity and telematics. Together with our Chinese parent company, we are writing a growth story from which all Preh locations will benefit.”
