Francesca Gamboni has been named chief supply chain officer, and will have combined oversight of procurement, logistics and manufacturing, as Javier Varela leaves the OEM to join Rivian. The enhancement to Gamboni’s role is the latest change to Volvo’s supply chain and logistics management, including recent new additions to lead inbound and vehicle logistics.
Gamboni joins Volvo Cars’ Executive Management Team, along with Erik Severinson, chief product and strategy officer, and Anders Bell, chief engineering and technology officer. They will report directly to CEO Jim Rowan.
“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.
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.
A highly integrated supply chain function
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.
”I joined Volvo Cars less than a year ago with the ambition to create long-term resilience in the foundation of our complete supply chain,” Gamboni wrote on LinkedIn. ”Volvo Cars is moving at pace towards our electrification goals and profitable growth, as well as making strides in setting new standards for safety. I’m very excited to lead the supply chain function in this journey.”
The promotion to chief supply chain officer, including responsibility for manufacturing, means that Gamboni will be leading one of the more integrated production and supply chain functions in the automotive industry.
It also continues a trend in the automotive industry of further developing the chief supply chain officer function. Last year, Renault Group appointed Denis Le Vot to the role, reporting directly to CEO Luca de Meo. Ford also appointed Liz Door as chief supply chain officer to help make supply chain management a competitive advantage.
However, the scope of responsibility most similar to those that Gamboni will oversee may be at JLR, where Barbara Bergmeier is executive director of Industrial Operations, which includes manufacturing, procurement and supply chain. Bermeier is also on the executive management board and reports to JLR’s CEO Adrian Mardell.
Wider changes in management and logistics functions
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. Earlier this year, Miguel Tavera joined Volvo from General Motors to head 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 report to Gamboni.
Meanwhile, Chris Godfrey, who was previously head of planning and operations, and Sean Bricknell, who led global inbound, are now both working on a localisation project for the Ghent plant in Belgium.
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