Senior Google and Vorwerk execs to join Bossard Board

Petra Maria Ehmann, Global Lead for Product Partnerships in AR for Google, and Vorwerk Director Marcel Keller have been nominated to join the Board of Directors at Bossard.

The move comes as Anton Lauber and Maria Teresa Vacalli revealed they were to step down from the Board.

Petra Maria Ehmann's career has included spells at Hilti and Bosch. Prior to globally leading for Product Partnerships in the augmented reality at Google, Ehmann drove new partnerships in the EMEA region at Google’s Emerging Business Development unit for advertising & commerce, and prior to that, for Google Maps and Google Search.

Marcel Keller has been a member of the management of Vorwerk International since 2018 and is in charge of digital transformation and group IT at Vorwerk. On the market side, Marcel Keller oversees the American and Asian markets (with a focus on China); the implementation of the Group’s multi-channel sales strategy is a top priority in these markets.

The Board of Directors is looking forward to working with Petra Maria Ehmann and Marcel Keller, and would like to thank Anton Lauber (member of the Board of Directors since 2006, Vice-President since 2011) and Maria Teresa Vacalli (member of the Board of Directors since 2013) for their committed, enduring and constructive cooperation for the benefit of all stakeholders of the Bossard Group.

Full career rundowns of the new Board Members

Petra Maria Ehmann is currently the Global Lead for Product Partnerships in the area of augmented reality at Google; previously, she was driving new partnerships in the EMEA region at Google’s Emerging Business Development unit for advertising & commerce, and prior to that, for Google Maps and Google Search. Before joining Google, Petra Maria Ehmann was Head of Business Intelligence at the Brazilian internet startup Kekanto in São Paolo, Brazil. Prior to that, she worked as a business analyst at A.T. Kearney in the DACH region. She began her professional career at Bosch in the steel supply business in Toluca, Mexico, and at Hilti in logistics in Shanghai, China.

Petra Maria Ehmann holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and a Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University in California, USA. Petra Maria Ehmann is a member of the Board of Directors of We Shape Tech, Zurich, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Technorama, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Marcel Keller has been a member of the management of Vorwerk International since 2018. In this role, he is in charge of digital transformation and group IT at Vorwerk. On the market side, Marcel Keller oversees the American and Asian markets (with a focus on China); the implementation of the Group’s multi-channel sales strategy is a top priority in these markets. From 2001 to 2018, Marcel Keller held various management positions at HP, most recently as COO and VP of Strategy, Planning and Operations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Technology Services in Palo Alto, California, USA.

In addition, Marcel Keller is a member of the Board of Directors of JAFRA Cosmetics in Los Angeles. Before he started his career in the IT sector (Apple, Dell, HP), he graduated with a degree in business management from KV Zurich.

The Bossard Group recently bolstered its fastening technology expertise with a 40% stake in the start-up company MultiMaterial-Welding AG, Stansstad, Switzerland.

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