The Vison of Volkswagen Digital Solutions is to believe that the only way to evolve is to wander. To pursue new ideas and follow new roads. To inspire and transform the future of IT in the Volkswagen Group, by questioning and re-questioning the things we know to be true today.

Following a degree in engineering (Karlsruhe University of Technology, KIT), in 1990 Klaus started his professional career at Daimler Benz AG where he held several executive positions in different business units across the company.

From 2002 until September 2004 Klaus worked for the Siemens VDO Automotive AG as CIO and Corporate Vice President. From 2004 until 2012 Mr. Straub was CIO and Vice President at Audi AG.

In April 2012 Klaus relocated to the BMW Group located in Munich as Leader of Organization Development and Process Management. Between mid-2014 and end of 2019 Klaus was appointed Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Group IT of the BMW Group. In his nearly 20 year CIO career he received several awards in Germany/Suisse/Austria e.g. CIO of the year 2006, CIO of the decade 2001-2011, CIO of the year / Innovation award 2018 , Hall of Fame IT Germany 2014.

Since Oct. 2020 Klaus is CEO & Founder of Xelerate GmbH and exadit GmbH. Xelerate is supporting companies to build up SW-Engineering Hubs in Portugal with a general contractor approach. Klaus is add on member in several advisor activities and boards.

Benjamin van Giffen is Assistant Professor for Information Management and heads the Research Lab for the Management of Artificial Intelligence at the Information Management at University of St.Gallen (IWI-HSG).
Benjamin researches the strategic and managerial issues in the design, scaling and operation of AI-driven information systems. His areas of research include the management of AI in business organizations, digital innovation with AI, as well as human-centered innovation of AI systems.
Before joining academia, he held different roles in IT-project and compliance management within a global pharmaceutical manufacturing firm, where he also served as manager for the sales & operations planning processes of six sales regions and five manufacturing plants in Europe.