Chris Glover graduated from the University of Cape Town, South Africa with a degree in Electronic Engineering in 1987.
Glover’s lifelong career with Volkswagen then began, where he has held positions within information technology, product management, manufacturing planning and production. More than half of these positions were international assignments in Germany, Brazil, China, Mexico and now the United States.
After a decade with Volkswagen of South Africa, Glover began his international career with 2 assignments in production in Wolfsburg, Germany. From 2004-2007, Glover led Production Planning and Industrial Engineering at the Curitiba plant of VW Brazil. He returned to South Africa as Division Head for Production from 2007-2010 and Division Head for Production Planning from 2010-2012. Thereafter, Glover spent 7.5 years in Shanghai as Head of Production Planning for SAIC Volkswagen from 2012-2019, where he was responsible for the planning and construction of seven new vehicle factories, including the first all-electric vehicle plant in Anting, Shanghai. He then spent 2.5 years as Vice President of Production and Logistics at VW Mexico in Puebla before joining the team in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the beginning of 2022.
As President and CEO at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant, Glover has overseen the successful launch of the ID.4 in 2022 and the factory’s transformation to become Volkswagen’s North American hub for electric vehicle and battery assembly. With Chattanooga now entrenched as a key player in the VW Group’s international strategy, Glover and team are now setting their sights on the future growth of the plant to meet the increasing demand for electric mobility in the North American region.
Glover speaks four languages: English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. He is married with 3 children.

Brian Breuhan has over 20 years of experience working in mechanical design, project engineering and project management within the automotive engineering/manufacturing industry. Brian has held various professional leadership roles for nonprofits, including, Executive Board Member for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Metro Detroit, Industry 4.0 Advisory Council for Automation Alley and a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for Wayne State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Wayne State University and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Central Michigan University.

Trent Randles has worked for Automotive Tier-1 suppliers for the last 10 years including Plastic Omnium, Magna Seating and BorgWarner. Holding various engineering positions in operations, design, program launch and engineering leadership has given him a unique perspective of the manufacturing industry. Throughout his career he’s led multiple digital transformation initiatives involving Digital Twins, Augmented Reality, and Cyber-Physical Production Systems.

In his current role as Manufacturing Engineering Manager at BorgWarner, he continues to promote digital technology advancement through educating others, coaching his team, and developing key partnerships.

Trent holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Technology Management from University of South Carolina – Upstate and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University. He is passionate about advancing technology in manufacturing, learning from others in this area and being a mentor to those seeking knowledge about it.

Raj Sohmshetty is a recently retired employee of Ford Motor Company where he had served in various technical and people leadership roles. His experience spans automotive product development, manufacturing, and technology development. In his most recent role as a Technical Specialist in Ford Research & Advanced Engineering, he led research projects related to Industry 4.0, AI/ML, robotics/automation, manufacturing data analytics, and future mobility systems. Raj has published over 25 conference and journal papers, reviewed technical papers, and chaired sessions for SAE and Smart Manufacturing and Automation Conferences. He has received over 60 patents in automotive design, manufacturing, and future mobility systems fields and multiple Trade Secret Awards.
Raj Sohmshetty holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo, Ohio; & an MBA degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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