“I am delighted to welcome Anders, Erik and Francesca to our Executive Management Team. This change will help us to flatten our structure in operations and elevate these important areas as we deliver on our technological and commercial transformation,” said Rowan. “At the same time, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Javier, who has decided to pursue new challenges outside of the company after almost eight years of immense contributions to Volvo Cars. We wish him and his family the very best in their future endeavours.”
Javier Varela, chief operating officer and deputy CEO is leaving Volvo Cars for a new role as chief operations officer at electric vehicle maker Rivian, beginning in August and will oversee operations including procurement, manufacturing, logistics and quality.
Gamboni joined Volvo Cars in September 2023 to lead the global procurement and supply chain team. She has 25 years of manufacturing, supply chain and procurement experience, mainly within the automotive industry. At Renault-Nissan she was general manager of logistics and then vice-president of supply chain. At Stellantis’ (formerly Groupe PSA) she was senior vice president of global supply chain. Gamboni has also worked for Opel, Gefco and Bosch amongst others. She joined Volvo in 2023 from non-automotive group Accell, where she held the role of chief supply chain officer and managed the group’s manufacturing, logistics, procurement, quality and new product development.
Geert Bruyneel, head of manufacturing, is also now reporting directly to Jim Rowan and remains a member of the group management team. After this summer, however, Volvo Cars’ Manufacturing division will also start reporting to Gamboni. Bruyneel will take on a new role as senior advisor of operations and industrial projects, reporting into Rowan.
“Geert will lead strategic projects, support our Košice and Ghent ramp up, plus other efficiency projects across Volvo Cars,” said a spokesperson for the company.
Erik Severinson has been with Volvo Cars in 2004. He joined the Volvo Cars’ group management team in 2023 and has been head of strategy and programme management for engineering and operations since 2022. He previously served as head of industrial strategy and group finance controller. and brings experience in driving operational excellence and strategic initiatives. In his new role he will be responsible for company and product strategy, car programme management, quality and sustainability.
Anders Bell has served as head of engineering for Volvo Cars since 2022, leading car engineering, research and development across hardware and software, and safety. He held a range of senior engineering roles at Volvo for 17 years before moving to Tesla for six years in 2016 as senior director of engineering. He returned to Volvo Cars in 2023.
These latest appointments follow other executive changes at Volvo Cars over recent months. Miguel Tavera has moved there from GM to head of logistics and aftersales supply, which includes oversight of inbound logistics at Volvo. Guy Lederer is now leading global outbound operations as head of planning and distribution. Lederer has moved over from Stellantis. Both with report to Gamboni.
Meanwhile, Chris Godfrey and Sean Bricknell are now both working on a localisation project for the Ghent plant in Belgium.
