Daniela Cavallo (born 3 April 1975) is a German business executive who has been chairwoman of the

Group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

and local

Works Council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...

of the

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxon ...

since May 2021.

Career

Cavallo was born to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

parents. Her father came to Wolfsburg with the first wave of

guest workers Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

and worked at the

Wolfsburg Volkswagen Plant The Wolfsburg Volkswagen Plant is the worldwide headquarters of the Volkswagen Group. Situated in Wolfsburg, Germany, it is one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world, with an area of just under and a building area of . In 2015 the p ...

. According to the financial news website

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, her Italian origin is important to her. She feels like at home in both countries, but she is really at home in Wolfsburg. After graduating from high school in 1994, she completed an apprenticeship as an office clerk at Volkswagen and qualified as a business administrator. She was also involved in Youth and Trainee representation. In 2002, Cavallo was elected to the Works Council of the then

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

subsidiary Auto 5000. After the birth of her children, she interrupted her work between 2004 and 2008 as the first Works Council member at Volkswagen for maternal leave. Cavallo has been a member of the Volkswagen General Works Council since 2013. In 2019, she was elected as deputy chair of the General and Group Works Council. After left as chair to became the new Chief Human Resources Officer at the Volkswagen commercial vehicle subsidiary

Traton , type = Public , traded_as = {{ubl , {{FWB, 8TRA , MDAX , ISIN = {{ISIN, sl=n, pl=y, DE000TRAT0N7 , industry = Automotive , genre = , fate = , predecessor = Volkswagen Group's heavy vehicle operations , successor = , founded = {{st ...

, Cavallo took over on 23 April 2021 as the chair. According to the

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was es ...

, the rise of the daughter of an Italian guest worker family to the top of the corporate group's employee representatives is "an important moment not only for Volkswagen, but for the entire trade union movement. Because for the first time the giant Volkswagen corporation with 660,000 employees worldwide has a woman as its top employee representative". According to

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

and

Manager Magazin ''Manager Magazin'' (stylized as ''manager magazin'') is a German monthly business magazine focusing on business, finance and management based in Hamburg. History and profile ''Manager Magazin'' was first published on 1 November 1971. It is ...

, Cavallo "is now in what is probably the most powerful position on the employee side in German industry". Cavallo's predecessor Osterloh describes her as "strong leadership, empathic and so strategically thinking that many will be surprised". In a long interview with editors of the weekly newspaper

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

in June 2021, Cavallo spoke about controversial high salary payments to the Works Councils and the effects of the

Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

. She is also concerned about xenophobic incidents at the

Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant The Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant () is an automobile factory in today's Zwickau district of Mosel (Zwickau), Mosel, Germany. Founded on 26 September 1990, together with the Chemnitz plant and the Transparent Factory, it belongs to Volkswagen Sac ...

. Because of her origins as the daughter of a guest-worker, she feels particularly drawn to fighting racism and xenophobia in Volkswagen Group and to improving career opportunities for women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallo, Daniela 1975 births Living people German people of Italian descent Women corporate executives Volkswagen Group executives 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople People from Wolfsburg Works councillors

Career

See also

References