Volvo Cars announced three additions to its executive management team on May 2 following the departure of former COO and deputy CEO Javier Varela.
Erik Severinson, chief product and strategy officer, Anders Bell, chief engineering and technology officer, and Francesca Gamboni, chief supply chain officer, now report directly to Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan, according to a press release.
"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,” Rowan said in the release.
After eight years at Volvo Cars, Varela will join Rivian as its new COO in August, reporting directly to founder and CEO RJ Scaringe.
Bell has served as head of engineering for Volvo Cars since 2022, leading research and development across vehicle hardware and software, including safety. He started at Volvo in 1999 as a lead engineer, according to his LinkedIn profile, and worked his way up to senior director of engineering before leaving the company for the same role at Tesla in 2016.
Severinson joined the group management team in 2023 and has been Volvo Cars' head of strategy and programme management for engineering and operations since 2022. He has been with the automaker since 2004, previously serving as head of industrial strategy and group finance controller.
In his new role, Severinson will be responsible for company and product strategy, car program management, quality and sustainability.
Gamboni joined Volvo Cars in 2023 with over 25 years of manufacturing, supply chain and procurement experience, mainly in the automotive sector including previous roles at Stellantis, Bosch and Renault-Nissan.
Aside from the C-suite changes, Volvo Cars said Geert Bruyneel, head of manufacturing, will report directly to Jim Rowan and remains a member of the group management team. Manufacturing will report to Gamboni after this summer, the automaker said.
