Speakers
Ian Robertson
Member of the Board of Management
BMW
Ian Robertson has been a Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing, since March 2008. Ian hails from Oswestry, Shropshire and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Maritime Studies from the University of Wales, Cardiff. He started his career in the automotive industry as a Graduate Trainee with the Rover Group in Great Britain thirty-two years ago and has been working in a variety of positions since.
From 1988 to 1994 he held various management roles at the Rover Group, including Purchasing Director, before being promoted to Managing Director at Land Rover Vehicles. He served as Managing Director at BMW South Africa from 1999 to 2005 before becoming the Chairman and Chief Executive for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd in 2005.
Ian Robertson was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aston University in July 2011 for his outstanding service and achievements in the fields of business and engineering.
Luca de Meo
Member of the Board of Management Sales and Marketing
Audi AG
Luca de Meo was born in Milan, Italy, in 1967. He studied Marketing in Milan and then launched his career in the automotive industry. From 1992 to 1994 he worked for the Renault brand, where he was responsible for the Italy sales region. He was subsequently employed at the company headquarters in France, where he was in charge of Product Management. In 1998, de Meo moved to Toyota Motor Europe.
He was appointed General Manager for Product Planning in 2000. Following his move to the Fiat Group in 2002, de Meo was responsible for Marketing for the Lancia brand. He was appointed Vice President of Lancia in 2003. In 2004, he took up the position of CEO of Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. In 2007, he was appointed Member of the Board of Management of the Fiat Group with responsibility for Marketing.
De Meo also held the position of CEO of the Alfa Romeo brand and was responsible for business operations relating to the Abarth brand. Luca de Meo joined the Volkswagen Group in 2009 where he was made Head of Marketing for the Volkswagen brand.
Laurent Burelle
Chairman and CEO
Plastic Omnium
Laurent Burelle, a French national, graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the Swiss Poltechnic Federal Institute of Technology (E.T.H.) in Zürich, Switzerland in 1973, completing a Master of Sciences in Chemical Engineering from the Massachussets Institute of Technology (M.I.T), Boston, USA, in 1975.
Mr. Burelle has spent his entire career with Plastic Omnium, where since 2001 he has operated as chairman and CEO.He is also a director of Lyonnaise de Banque, Labruyère Eberlé and Fondation Jacques Chirac.
He speaks French, English, Spanish and German. He is also an Officer of the French Legion of Honour, a Knight of French Mérite Agricole, a Knight of French Order of Merit and an Officer of the Order Isabel the Catholic of Spain.
Maxime Picat, 39, took over as managing director for the Peugeot brand on October 1, 2012.Prior to that he was managing director of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobiles (DPCA), a job he started in January 2011 after serving as deputy managing director or 28 months.
Picat joined PSA in 1998. He has a broad industrial experience having held various jobs in manufacturing at PSA's factory in Mulhouse, France, and as manufacturing manager at the company's Sochaux, France, plant. From there he moved to company's joint venture plant in Wuhan, China, in November 2007 as managing director for manufacturing.
Picat has a civil engineering degree from the Ecole des Mines Paris.
Erika Tsubaki
Studio Manager, Design Strategy and Futuring
Ford Werke GmbH
Erika Tsubaki is studio manager, design strategy and futuring, based in Ford of Europe’s Design Studios in Cologne, Germany. In her wide-ranging role, Ms. Tsubaki is responsible for researching innovative ideas in terms of features, functions, technologies and product interfaces, including internal and external strategic design communication.
She is also in charge of product and fashion design for Ford of Europe's selection of accessories - "The Ford Lifestyle Collection" - and she is supporting livery and team clothing design for Ford's involvement in the World Rally Championship and Formula Ford.
Erika Tsubaki’s career began in Japan, where she studied Industrial Design at Tsukuba University. Her first job was as an exterior and interior designer at Mazda Hiroshima.
A self-confessed car nut, Ms. Tsubaki used to play with model cars as a child, but her love of motoring was really ignited when Mazda introduced the RX-7 and MX-5 in the early ‘90s.
Ms. Tsubaki speaks German, English and Japanese.
Jean-Marc Gales
Chief Executive Officer
Clepa Association of European Automotive Suppliers
Jean-Marc Gales, a Luxembourg national, holds a diploma in mechanical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe and a Master’s degree in Management Science from Imperial College, London.He began his career with BMW where he occupied a number of positions in strategic planning and in group coordination and organisation.
In 1998, he joined Volkswagen as strategic marketing manager and then group marketing manager.In 2003, he left for General Motors, where he became managing director - light commercial vehicles, and subsequently, central European managing director - sales, marketing and after-sales, for Opel and Saab. In 2006, he joined Mercedes-Benz as global sales director.
Peter Fuss
Senior Advisory Partner Automotive
Ernst & Young
For more than 10 years, Peter Fuss has been a Partner with Ernst & Young in Germany acting as Senior Advisory Partner Automotive for Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Over the last 20 years he has been advising Automotive companies on business issues with regard to strategic questions or commercial topics as for example Mergers & Acquisitions.
He currently serves as the Global Client Service Partner for one global automotive vehicle manufacturer and the European Client Service Part-ner of another global vehicle manufacturer.
Peter Fuss is co-moderator of the web-based Automanager.TV magazine, a frequent speaker at Automotive Conferences across Europe and publisher of Automotive Studies.
Stuart Pearson
Automotive Analyst
Morgan Stanley
Stuart heads Morgan Stanley's consistently top-3 ranked European Autos team in London, and was named as one of Europe's top-3 automotive analysts in the 2012 Extel survey. Stuart joined Morgan Stanley in May 2010 from Credit Suisse, where his team was consistently ranked top-2 in the sector since 2007. Prior to this, he spent 7 years at Citi. By training, Stuart is an engineer, with a BEng from Bristol University (1st Class), during which time he also trained for 2 years with Ford Motor Company. Stuart also has an MSc in Finance from Bath (distinction), and has been a CFA charter holder since 2005.
Greg Archer
Transport Environment
Greg Archer manages vehicles activities for the European Federation for Transport & Environment (T&E), the principal environmental organisation campaigning on sustainable transport at the EU level. T&E represents, and is supported by around 50 member organisations working to promote an environmentally sound approach to transport across Europe.
Greg formally led the UK-based Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, a public-private partnership focused on developing the market for low carbon vehicles and fuels. During this time he also set up and directed a centre of excellence for low carbon vehicle technologies (Cenex) and UK Renewable Fuels Agency that regulated the supply of biofuels.
Greg has spent his career in the environmental sector with previous roles include working in business running an environmental consultancy; managing major Government programmes for pollution management; directing public-partnerships and environmental regulators; and in research and campaigning. He describes himself as a “pragmatic environmentalist.”
Philippe Jean
European Commission
Philippe Jean was born in 1956 and joined the European Commission in 1983. He has worked in a number of areas, such as trade negotiations, steel policy, functioning of the internal market.
From 1999 to 2002, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Enterprise Commissioner, Mr E. Liikanen, where he was responsible for industrial files, including those relating to the automotive sector.In January 2008, he took up his present position as Head of the Automotive Industry Unit of the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General.
He looks after aspects of automotive industry competitiveness and is responsible for the legislative framework for type-approval of vehicles.
He graduated in law and economics at the University of Paris and is an alumni from the “Institut d’Etudes Poliques” of Paris.
Arnaud Deboeuf
Vice President, Entry Range Program Director
Renault
Arnaud Deboeuf is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees. He joined Renault in 1993 working in the Powertrain Component Methods Department before going on to become Head of Engine Assembly at the Cleon plant in 1998.
He joined the Purchasing Department in 2002, working first as Global Supplier Account Manager and then as Head of Purchasing Management Control for Renault Samsung Motors in South Korea. In 2007 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Entry Program tasked with developing the Duster.
January 1st 2012, Arnaud Deboeuf was appointed as Vice President, Entry Range Program Director.
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