Ralf Speth
| Dr Ralf D. Speth | |
|---|---|
Ralf Speth at the unveiling of the 2012 Range Rover
|
|
| Born | September 9, 1955 (age 68) Roth, Bavaria |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | Warwick Business School |
| Occupation | Automotive Industry |
| Known for | Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover |
Ralf Dieter Speth, KBE (born 9 September 1955 in Roth, Bavaria)[1] is a German automotive executive, currently chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover,[2] following previous roles with BMW, Linde and Ford's Premier Automotive Group.
Contents
Education
Speth was awarded a degree in Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim, Germany. He later undertook a Doctorate of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration at Warwick.[3]
Career
Speth started his automotive career with BMW in 1980 and worked for them for twenty years.[4]
In 2002 he joined The Linde Group and served as Head of Global Operations and as Vice President of Operations, and also Chief Operating Officer and Member of Executive Board at its subsidiary KION Group GmbH.[5]
In 2007 Speth returned to the car industry and joined Ford Motor Company's Premier Automotive Group (PAG) as Director of Production, Quality and Product Planning. Following the sale of two of the PAG marques, Jaguar and Land Rover, to Tata, he became Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) in February 2010, and a Non-Executive Director of Tata Motors in November 2010.[6]
Under Speth's management, JLR has increased the company's workforce significantly. “We have added more than 17,000 people in the course of the last five years,” he said in an interview published in June 2015.[7] Speth champions the need for R&D and makes much of JLR's investment in R&D. “I guess we are the biggest R&D investor in the UK in the automotive business,” he claims.
In the 2015 Special Honours list, Speth was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the automotive industry. [8]
Personal
He is married and has two children and lives in Leamington Spa and Munich.[9]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Special Honours List, 2015.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
