Board of Directors

Prof. Dr.hc Winfried Vahland is the Chair of the Polestar board. He has 40 years of broad and international experience in the automotive industry, including as CEO of Škoda, as well as various other executive positions within the Volkswagen Group.

Winfried Vahland served on the Volvo Cars in Board from 2019 to 2024, and currently serves as Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EuroCar AG., as well as a Member of the Supervisory Board of Proton Holdings Berhad and Vibracoustic SE. 

Pr. Dr.hc. Vahland holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from Technical University THD Darmstadt, Germany, and a Master of Business Administration from GMI Engineering & Management Institute, Michigan, United States. He was decerned honorary doctor in Mechanical Engineering by the Dalian University of Technology in China, and in Economics by the University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic.

Michael was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Polestar in October 2024 and has two decades of senior level experience in the automotive industry.

Previously, Michael served as the CEO of Nikola Motor Company, VinFast and Opel, and before that he was CFO of Opel, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück and a Master’s degree in European Marketing from Brunel University of London. 

Christine Gorjanc has extensive operational experience from working with multi-national technology and public healthcare companies. She is currently Lead Director for Juniper Networks.

Christine brings over 35 years of experience in finance and accounting and is a highly experienced former CFO at Netgear and Arlo Technologies. She has served as a board member in both private and listed companies, including as chairman of the audit committee and member of the remuneration committee.

Her expertise includes strategic initiatives, working with boards and CEO's to deliver growth and innovation, while navigating the global business environment.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Art in Accounting from the University of Texas, and a Master's degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University.

Daniel Li combines experience from key accounting, financing and corporate management positions in China and now leads Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd., the global mobility technology group, as CEO.

Previously Daniel has served as CFO and General Manager for various companies including Guanxi Liugong Machinery Co. Ltd, China Academy of Post and Telecommunication, Cummins Inc. and BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd.

Daniel Li holds a number of board positions notably Chairman of the Board of Lotus Group International Limited. Board member of Saxo Bank A/S, Proton Holdings Berhad and Lynk & Co Investment Co., Ltd. He is also an Independent Board member of YTO Express (International) Holdings Ltd.

Daniel holds a Bachelor of Philosophy from the Renmin University of China, a Master of Management Engineering from the Beijing Institute of Machinery Industry, China and Master of Business Administration from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, United States.

David Richter combines wide experience in high-growth technology companies, with leadership across business development, corporate development, legal, finance and product teams. 

David is currently Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at DoorDash, a brand aiming to become the premier local commerce logistics platform. He has worked in micro-mobility, serving as the Chief Business Officer for Lime, where he was also interim CFO.

David Richter was Uber's Vice President, Global Head of Business and Corporate Development and led the business development, corporate development and experiential marketing teams.

David holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Cornell University.

David Wei is an entrepreneurial leader with over 20 years of management experience across investment and operations in China.

In 2011, David founded Vision Knight Capital with assets under management (AUM) of over 16 billion RMB and both USD and RMB funds. Recent investments include Smoore, Pop Mart, Anker and Guoquan.

Prior to founding Vision Knight Capital, David was the CEO of Alibaba.com. Alibaba is a global leading E-commerce company, and David successfully led the listing of Alibaba Limited on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2007. Prior to this, David was CFO then CEO of B&Q China, a leading home improvement retailer in Europe and Asia. Under David's leadership, B&Q China grew to become China 's largest home improvement retailer

David holds a Bachelor‘s degree in International Business Management from Shanghai International Studies University and is a graduate of the corporate finance program at the London Business School.

Francesca has 30 years of experience in automotive and other industries and is currently Chief Manufacturing and Supply Chain Officer at Volvo Cars. She has played an important role in advancing efficiency, sustainability and localisation in Volvo’s supply chain.

Prior to joining Volvo in 2023, Francesca held senior supply chain roles at Accell Group, Stellantis, Renault-Nissan, Alcan (now Rio Tinto) and Bosch.

Francesca has a Master of Science in Industrial Technology Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

Karen Francis has extensive operational and leadership experience as a CEO, director, strategic advisor, and investor, with a deep knowledge of corporate governance and a strong track record of successfully building businesses across multiple industries.

Karen’s career spans fast moving consumer goods , management consulting and a tenure in the automotive industry that culminated in her appointment as General Manager of the Oldsmobile division of General Motors and subsequently a Vice President of Ford Motor Company, where she led the corporate venture capital group.

Today Karen is Chair of both Vontier, focused on mobility and transportation businesses, and CelLink engineers of high-conductance, large area circuits for the clean power revolution. She is deeply engaged in the mobility and transportation technology ecosystem as an independent director for a number of private-equity and venture-capital funded companies in Silicon Valley. 

Karen holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, where she served on the Board of Trustees for nine years. She also serves on the Board of Positive Coaching Alliance and a Trustee of PGA Reach, the PGA of America foundation.

Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann is well known for his achievements as an automotive industry executive, CEO and Chairman, leading brands as significant as Opel and Continental AG.

Karl Thomas built a career spanning both automotive supplier and OEM brands, in Europe and in China. He has served as Chairman of the Board and President of Opel. In addition, he was also General Motors Executive Vice President & President Europe as well as a member of the GM Executive Committee. Previously Karl Thomas was with Volkswagen AG, where he was CEO and Vice President of Volkswagen Group China in Beijing.

Today Dr. Neumann is founder of KTN, an organisation created to support the transformation towards E-Mobility. He consults and actively invests in companies that are looking to help shape an electric future, while also sitting on the boards of various organisations. Notably he is Chairman of Autobrains Technologies a provider of solutions for the next generation of vehicles and mobility.

Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Dortmund.

Xiaojie Shen (Laura) is a senior executive with more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry. She joined Volkswagen Group (China) in 2007, has held several senior management positions in the company such as Vice President for Special Projects leading Smart City project, Head of Sales & Service for VW Region China. Her last position was Managing Director and Board member of Volkswagen Group Import (China) for Bentley, Lamborghini and VW.

Prior to this, Xiaojie Shen (Laura) was Head of Sales of BMW Brilliance. She has a proven track record of managing complexity and delivering results and a broad knowledge of business strategy development and deployment, sales and marketing.

Xiaojie Shen (Laura) holds an MBA from State University of New York at Buffalo.