Ralf Speth

Ralf D. Speth

Ralf Speth at the unveiling of the 2012 Range Rover
Born Ralf Dieter Speth
September 9, 1955 (1955-09-09) (age 61)
Roth, Bavaria
Nationality German
British
Alma mater Warwick Business School
Occupation Automotive Industry
Known for Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover

Ralf Dieter Speth KBE(Honorary)(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.

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 The University of 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. He was 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 an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the automotive industry.[8]

On 25 October 2016, Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, was appointed as an Additional Director to the board of Tata Sons.[9]

Personal

He is married and has two children and lives in Leamington Spa and Munich.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Dr Ralf Speth,Chief Executive Officer". Design Council. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Dr. Ralf D. Speth, Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar LandRover Limited, poses next to a new Jaguar F-Type". Driving.ca. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Ralf D. Speth". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Dr Ralf Speth, CEO Jaguar Land Rover". Design Council. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Ralf Speth: Resurgent Jaguar Land Rover shifts up a gear". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  6. ↑ "Ralf D. Speth". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2014-11-28.
  7. ↑ "R&D Investment Makes Good Business Sense". Ingenia. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  8. ↑ Special Honours List, 2015.
  9. ↑ Ralf Speth, N. Chandrasekaran join Tata Sons Board
  10. ↑ "JLR chief: Car industry 'most complex on earth'". The Telegraph. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
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