VDA Management Reshuffle

Starting on January 1, 2022, Andreas Rade will be the new Managing Director of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). Rade will be responsible for the area of Politics and Society. At the same time, the business unit Communication and Media/IAA will be merged with Member Services & Association Management. From January 2022, the new combined business unit will be headed by Jürgen Mindel who, alongside his existing duties, will take on responsibility for economic policy and finance. Dr. Joachim Damasky, the third member of the Managing Board, will continue to be responsible for Products and Value Creation.

Andreas Rade’s main fields of activity will include climate, transport, the environment and sustainability, along with taxation, foreign trade and key policies. In addition, he will support Manufacturer Groups II and III and have responsibility for the VDA Office in China.

Rade is currently Managing Director of the Berlin Office of the VDMA (Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association). He previously spent ten years working for the parliamentary group of Alliance 90/The Greens, where his positions included office manager for the then chair of the parliamentary group, Renate Künast, and transport specialist. Rade has also researched mobility from a social science perspective at the Technical University of Berlin.

“The transformation to climate-neutral mobility is both a major challenge and a huge opportunity. I’m looking forward to my new duties and to working with the members and my new colleagues,” Rade said.

During the next few years, the regulations and framework conditions determined in Brussels will become even more important for the automotive industry, especially in view of the challenges of the transformation. The VDA is responding to this by creating a new unit headed by Dr. Kurt-Christian Scheel. In the future, Dr. Scheel will coordinate topics relating to European policies and legal affairs in the VDA, to enhance the association’s visibility in Brussels and take account of the significance of European and legal policies in the VDA’s work. In this capacity, Dr. Scheel will report directly to President Hildegard Müller, represent the interests of the VDA at a high level in Brussels, and thus build on his success as Managing Director Politics and Society for the VDA in a new post.

“The restructuring at VDA Headquarters, which has been planned and implemented over the last year and a half, plus the reallocation of management responsibilities, the higher profile of Brussels Office, and the association’s new financial structure, which has been elaborated jointly with the members and was passed today, have made the VDA fit for the future.

“I’m looking forward to working with the new team and I wish to thank not only my colleagues in the VDA, but in particular all the members, for their trust and support,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller.