The supervisory board of Schaeffler AG, a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings, has appointed Astrid Fontaine as its new chief human resources officer. She will also be a member of the board of managing directors of Schaeffler AG, commencing from 1 January, 2024.
Prior to joining Schaeffler Fontaine was associated with Volkswagen Group, where she spearheaded people and transformation functions on the board of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. She held the role for over two years starting September 2021.
She has also held a board-level position as head of people, digitalisation, and IT at Bentley Motors in the UK. Furthermore, in her career spanning over two decades, she has worked with many other organisations including Porsche, DaimlerChrysler, and Mercedes-Benz in both Germany and the US.
Her longest stint was with Mercedes-Benz, where she started her career in the year 2000 as general manager, e-business/digitisation. She essayed the role for two years and was then elevated to chief information officer (CIO), in the year 2002. She worked with Mercedes-Benz for over six years before moving to Porsche.
Fontaine holds a degree in business administration and mechanical engineering from RPTU Kaiserslautern- Landau. Additionally, she earned her doctorate in information systems through a PhD programme in the US.