Volkswagen group has poached its new head of integrity and legal affairs from Daimler with the full approval and cooperation of its rival.
In a statement, Daimler said it had released management board member for integrity and legal affairs, Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, from her current contract, which scheduled to run until 28 February, 2017 so she could take up the same post at VW on 1 January, 2016.
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"In the interests of the good corporate governance of the German automotive industry, the chairman of the supervisory board of Daimler AG has agreed to this request after consultation with the presidential committee of the supervisory board, after compliance is anchored firmly at Daimler and its corporate culture," the statement said.
VW chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch responded in a statement: "We are delighted that Hohmann-Dennhardt has agreed to take on this responsible task and that we can build on her outstanding competence and experience. At the same time we would like to thank Daimler AG for agreeing to our request to the early termination of Hohmann-Dennhardt’s contract."
A Bloomberg report noted the apparently amicable move was unusual because the two automakers have poached talent from one another in recent years and generally take a hard-line approach when someone jumps ship. After VW hired Andreas Renschler last year to run its commercial vehicles unit, Daimler made the executive sit out the entirety of a non-compete clause. Daimler later responded by naming former VW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder to its supervisory board.
Daimler is helping VW and the entire German automobile industry "clean up the collateral damage from the diesel deceit", Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told Bloomberg. "A better candidate couldn’t have been chosen."
German media reports said Hohmann-Dennhardt was appointed by Daimler in February 2011 to oversee compliance, legal affairs and ethical issues after serving previoulsy on Germany's constitutional court for 11 years as a judge. The automaker expanded its management board from six to seven members to add Hohmann-Dennhardt, the first female management board member in the company’s history.
