President & Secretary General

CLEPA President

Thorsten Muschal has been FORVIA Executive Vice President of Sales and Program Management since 2017.

Thorsten Muschal, 53, was elected President in 2020, and then re-elected in 2021. Before that, he was CLEPA vice president for 4 years and is well versed into the EU policy dossiers impacting the automotive industry.

Thorsten has been Group Executive Vice President of Sales and Program Management at FORVIA (former Faurecia) since 2017. He has held leadership positions at Faurecia in Germany, North America, and France. Thorsten Muschal first joined Faurecia in 1992 as the Assistant to the General Manager of RHW. He was then made Head of Controlling at the Stadthagen plant. In 1997 he worked as the Director of Metal Structures for Volkswagen, and in 1998 became the Director of Sales to the Volkswagen Group. In 2003 his responsibilities were enlarged responsible  to Ford and GM. In 2004 he was the Vice President of the BMW/DAIMLER Customer, and was also made the Managing Director of Faurecia Autositze GmbH.

In 2005 he became the Vice President of the Ford/ GM/ Volkswagen Division. From  2006 to 2011 he worked as Vice President for the North European Seating Division, and the Managing Director of Faurecia Automotive GmbH. From 2011 to 2014 Thorsten Muschal was the President of Faurecia Automotive Seating in North America, and then in 2014 became Faurecia’s Vice President of Group Customer Strategy, in charge of Sales. In 2016 he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Faurecia Exteriors.

CLEPA Secretary General

Benjamin Krieger has worked in EU policy and communications for the past 15 years, with positions in the European Parliament, as a consultant, and as part of the CLEPA team.

Mr. Krieger assumed the role of CLEPA Secretary General as of 1 September 2022. Working closely with the team, members, and key stakeholders, he aims to ensure that the EU policy community embrace the CLEPA vision to be the leading provider of innovative technologies and solutions for safe, sustainable and smart mobility around the world.

Preceding his role of Secretary General, Mr. Krieger led Government Affairs for CLEPA. Before joining CLEPA, he advised clients on public affairs and strategic communications, working across a broad range of topics at the intersection of industry, sustainability, digitalisation, and trade for businesses and associations across different sectors.

A journalist by training, Benjamin started his career in the European Parliament, first managing the office of a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and later becoming the spokesperson to a delegation of 12 MEPs.

Originally from Germany, Mr. Krieger speaks English, German and French.