Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Martin Winterkorn

On 1st January 2007 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Martin Winterkorn became Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. At the same time, he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Audi AG. With effect from 1st February 2007, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG appointed Martin Winterkorn Member of Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for the new area ’Group Research and Development’. At the same time, he took over the chairmanship of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand in addition to his other tasks.

Winterkorn was born on 24th May 1947 in Leonberg (Germany). Winterkorn studied Metallurgy and Metal Physics at the University of Stuttgart from 1966 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977 he was a PhD
student at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research, where he received his doctorate in 1977.

Winterkorn’s professional career began in 1977 as a specialist assistant in the research division "Process Engineering" at Robert Bosch GmbH. From 1978 to 1981 he headed the refrigerant compressor development group "Substances and Processes" at Robert Bosch GmbH and Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte GmbH.

In 1981 Winterkorn joined Audi AG as assistant to the Member of the Board for Quality Assurance. Two years later, he assumed responsibility for "Measuring Technology/Sampling and Test Laboratory" at Audi. At the beginning of 1988, he was made departmental head of "Central Quality Assurance", and in 1990 Head of Audi Quality Assurance.

In 1993 Winterkorn became Head of "Group Quality Assurance" at Volkswagen AG and was appointed General Representative of Volkswagen AG in March 1994. He was additionally responsible for Volkswagen Group Product Management from June 1995. In January 1996 Winterkorn took over as Member of the brand Board of Management for "Technical Development" at the Volkswagen brand. From July 2000 he was Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for Research and Development.

Winterkorn became Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG on 1st March 2002. In addition to this, Winterkorn became responsible for Technical Development at Audi AG on 1st January 2003. In his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, Winterkorn was also a Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.

In 2003 Winterkorn was made an honorary professor of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. On 1st August 2004 he was awarded an honorary professorship at the Technical University of Dresden for the subject area "Lightweight Materials in Automotive Engineering". On 18th July 2007 Winterkorn received an honorary professorship from Tongji University, Shanghai, which has enjoyed a close scientific partnership with Volkswagen for many years.