Steffen Berns is an engineer with over three decades of leadership experience with a focus on the automotive supply sector and software industry. For 20 years, he served as divisional board member and CEO across Germany and India. He has extensive experience in establishing new units, navigating periods of accelerated growth and orchestrating large restructuring projects. His professional life is characterized by strategic vision and aligning operations with market dynamics and customer needs, designing and implementing transformative change processes, and fostering proactive organizational development. In doing so, he has repeatedly overcome functional, intercultural and professional boundaries and shaped his areas of responsibility.
Steffen has acquired his comprehensive expertise through diverse functional roles across different countries. As an attentive listener and keen analyst who is quick to grasp new topics and who understands complex organizations and issues in depth, Steffen can optimally cater to his clients’ needs by analyzing their situation, defining goals and creating solutions. His hands-on experience in various business environments coupled with his solution-driven approach make him an effective sparring partner in support of achieving lasting results.
From 1990 to 2023 Steffen served within the Bosch Group, focusing primarily on the automotive supply sector. During two extended assignments in India, he also managed operations for other divisions in South Asia, including consumer and building technology. As early as 1998, he became the first head of the group’s newly founded and globally operating software company, which has since grown to more than 30,000 employees. Steffen’s career at Bosch began in the development of electromechanical components for drive technologies, where he quickly assumed management responsibility as a group and department head. Later he joined the electronics department, followed by consumer electronics for four years. Throughout his tenure, Steffen moved several times between development, sales and IT. Among other roles, he was the CEO of the Bosch business listed in India, chairman of the board of management for the global car multimedia division and ultimately chairman of the divisional board of Chassis-Systems Control, one of the group’s largest divisions.
Steffen is married and has two grown-up daughters. He enjoys water sports and hiking, is an active musician and passionate about visual and performing arts. He currently lives with his wife south of Lisbon, Portugal.
