Julian Fieres

Julian Fieres is Vice President Transformation and Head of Strategy, Sustainability & Digitalization at Germany second largest automotive supplier, ZF Friedrichshafen AG. He leads a 60-person transformation organization and has steered landmark initiatives including the merger of ZF’s Powertrain (€7.5 bn) and E-Mobility (€2.5 bn) divisions into a global Top-3 Tier-1 e-mobility supplier, delivering double-digit million-euro synergies. In parallel, he built a 25-FTE sustainability function with in-house LCA capabilities toward a 2040 net-zero trajectory and a 30-FTE digital team generating >€10 m annual bottom-line savings within two years.

A strategy and M&A practitioner, Julian has executed minority JVs in China, strategic alliances in the US, and a carve-out to a financial investor, acted as the Global Head of Sales with commercial wins with >€2 bn lifetime value and a global sales transformation (CRM, quoting, forecasting). He previously led global Product & Technology Planning, standing up data-driven road-mapping, a 360° benchmarking capability, and the site-selection project that enabled ZF Serbia (>1,000 FTE).

Julian is an external Ph.D. candidate at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Chair for Transformation & Technology) where he researches success factors of large corporate transformations and teaches decision-making, digital transformation, and sustainability in MBA and executive programs (WHU-Kellogg, HSG St. Gallen, HWZ Hochschule der Wirtschaft Zürich). His work has been recognized with awards including Capital’s “Top 40 under 40,” Handelsblatt’s “30 Next Generation Managers,” Automotive News Europe “Rising Star,” and futur/io’s “Top 100 Sustainability Executives.”

He holds an M.Sc. (with distinction) in International Management & Leadership from the University of Glasgow, a B.A. in Politics & Public Administration from the University of Konstanz, and is a Certified M&A Professional (Frankfurt School).