Hans Dieter Pötsch

Pötsch was born on 28 March 1951, in Traun near Linz, Austria. Pötsch studied engineering management at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.

He began his career at BMW, where he worked between 1979 and 1987. He then moved to Trumpf in Ditzingen. From 1991 to 1995, Pötsch was chairman of the board at Traub AG in Reichenbach. From July 1995 until the end of 2002, Pötsch was chairman of the board of management at Dürr AG in Stuttgart.

In 2003, Pötsch became chief financial officer of Volkswagen AG. Since November 2009, Pötsch has additionally been a board member for finance at Porsche Automobil Holding. He held the position until 2015, when he was appointed chairman of the executive board at Porsche, succeeding Martin Winterkorn. Following the resignation of Ferdinand Piëch, Pötsch additionally became chairman of the supervisory board at Volkswagen in 2015. His nomination came at the behest of the Porsche and Piëch families, who together control a majority of VW's voting shares via the Porsche holding company. Frank Witter became Pötsch's successor as CFO at Volkswagen.

In 2016, a German market manipulation probe into the Volkswagen emissions scandal expanded to include Pötsch.

In October 2019, Pötsch was elected President of the German Chamber of Commerce in Austria.

In December 2021, Pötsch's mandate at Porsche was extended until the end of 2026.