Since the beginning of 2021, Elke Temme has been in charge of the charging and energy business area within the Volkswagen-Group with the brands Elli and Electrify America – a “pillar of the future” of the group, which bundles Volkswagen’s global activities in charging infrastructure and energy services. Temme is now resigning from her duties for personal reasons with immediate effect. It is said that she will take care of her family for a few months.
Temme explained in one LinkedIn post
, the plans for the next phase of her son’s life, who had a disability after a brain tumor operation, had been shattered. Now the family is trying to find an alternative. “It is with a heavy heart that I had to announce my time off today in order to be able to devote myself to this task with all my strength,” wrote Temme. Volkswagen thanked her for being able to resign as a top manager and later return part-time.
Temme’s previous duties will be taken over by Giovanni Palazzo, as Volkswagen announced on Monday. Palazzo has been responsible for the North American fast charging network Electrify America as President and CEO since 2018. As part of the change in personnel, the manager will become Chairman of Electrify America effective February 15. After her three-month break, Temme will then be available to the company on a reduced basis until the end of the year, Volkswagen announced.
“Elke Temme has made the charging and energy services business an important future pillar of the group,” said Thomas Schmall (59), Volkswagen Group Board Member for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components. He regrets Temme’s withdrawal, but supports her decision “but with the deepest conviction”.
The former DaimlerManager Palazzo, in his capacity as CEO of Electrify America, was responsible for building the largest public fast charging network in the world USA accountable and implemented. Before joining Electrify America, Palazzo worked for the Volkswagen Group for seven years, most recently as head of e-mobility strategy.
Before Volkswagen, Elke Temme worked for the energy company RWE/Innogy worked for 18 years in various functions and, among other things, as COO managed Innogy eMobility Solutions GmbH, an independent company under the umbrella of Innogy SE, which sold cloud-based software solutions and charging hardware to business partners.