Management Team

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

John van Soerland

John van Soerland (1962) has been CEO of the independent car manufacturer VDL Nedcar in Born and deputy board member of VDL Groep in Eindhoven since February 2021. Before becoming CEO at VDL Nedcar John held various management positions within VDL, Philips and NXP. John has over 35 years of experience in various industries such as medical devices, semiconductor, consumer electronics and automotive.

John received his Bachelor's degree in Technical Business Administration in 1984 and completed his Master's degree at ESSEC Business School in France.

Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Jan Tulkens

Jan Tulkens (1960) has been employed at VDL Nedcar since 1 August 2017. He is responsible for the total operation up to and including the moment that our cars are transferred to our customer.

He has more than 35 years automotive (OEM and Tier One) experience, managing operational teams in the entire value change from customers, shareholders and suppliers through to first-line employees and management teams.

Inalfa Roofsystems Group (2007 - 2017): starting as Vice President & Manufacturing Director at Inalfa, he advanced to become member of the Board of Management, Chief Executive Officer Europe and Chief Operating Officer Group. In his period at Inalfa, Jan developed and deployed a global production footprint in a multicultural, automotive business environment, with regional matrices aimed at promoting the growth of roof systems.

NedCar (1982 - 2007): starting as Junior Engineer, Jan developed via positions as Manufacturing Engineer, Process Engineer and Quality Engineer to General Manager, Unit Manager FAS for Quality and Operations Management. As Project Manager, Jan implemented the company redesign and evaluation for the next generation production organisation.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

René Vounckx

René Vounckx (1966) has been employed at VDL Nedcar since 1 March 2013, where he started as VP PD Engineering. Since 1 January 2015, he launched the MINI Hatch, MINI Convertible and MINI Countryman/Countryman PHEV models. René is responsible for the technology. The engineering, development and physical integration of new projects. But also standardization, innovation and modernization.

René entered service at Ford Motor Company on 1 October 1990, and took the lead in all major car introductions within Ford Europe, until March 2013. During this period, he occupied a series of board positions at various locations including the Group-Staff Europe department and in the production plants in Genk (BE), Southampton (UK) and Keulen (DE). René graduated from the University of Technology at Diepenbeek (Belgium) in 1990 with a degree in Electrical-Mechanical Industrial Engineering.

Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

Sef van Montfort

Sef van Montfort (1961) holds nearly 35 years of experience in the automotive industry as he joined VDL Nedcar in the mid-eighties. He is one of VDL Nedcar's home grown executives and knows every part of the business inside out. In the early days he built his career working with renowned OEMs like Volvo, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz/Smart spending significant time in Sweden, Japan and other countries to integrate and test new production partners and models.

Sef has played an imperative role by leading the charge in finding a new partner and contractor for NedCar. He has successfully guided the integration process and is key in ongoing negotiations with stakeholders. Other senior roles include leading Project management, Process development, Supply chain, Information management, Purchase, Quality, Sales and Production. In all, he has guided teams through every step of the process, from the early start of cooperation until full production and phase out.

In working with different Original Equipment Manufactures OEMs and suppliers Sef tailored his management style, first-hand experiencing various corporate cultures. Knowing both strengths and weaknesses of different cultures and work ethics contributed to the success of VDL NC’s most recent integration.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Ton Wijnen

Ton Wijnen (1978) joined VDL Nedcar in November 2014. In his current role he is responsible for finance and purchase. He also takes the lead in developing and setting out our strategic agenda.

Before he joined VDL Nedcar, Ton was employed as Strategy Consultant at Roland Berger between 2011 and 2014. In this position he advised and supported businesses in major transformation projects. In 2012 and 2013, for example, he assisted VDL Nedcar in the transition from Mitsubishi to the current situation with VDL Groep as shareholders and BMW/MINI as customer. Between 2007 and 2010, Ton was employed as consultant for various companies in the field of Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). He started his career in 2002 as an International Tax Advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, having obtained degrees in Business economics and Tax law at Tilburg University.