Thomas
von der Ohe

Co-Founder, CEO

WHAT DRIVES ME

You come across an opportunity to positively impact societies around the globe maybe once in your lifetime. An opportunity to truly make a difference. Our unique approach to autonomous driving gives us this chance: redefining how people move in a better way. Building and shipping a product with this great team is what drives me day and night.

BACKGROUND

Launched Zoox’ first self-driving vehicle on public streets as leading Technical Program Manager in Silicon Valley, launched Amazon’s first Echo as leading Technical Program Manager on Device Software, Founded two (funded) mobility companies. M. Sc. Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Fabrizio
Scelsi

Co-Founder, CTO

WHAT DRIVES ME

Building products together with an amazing team based on cutting-edge technology to serve a greater purpose and solve problems – for the people, for our planet.

BACKGROUND

Manager of an engineering team in Silicon Valley to build autonomous shuttles, built teams and various mobility products: electric race cars, e-motorcycles, light electric vehicles, electric passenger vehicles, including one of the most successful electric delivery vehicles in Germany. RWTH Aachen, Imperial College London.

Bogdan
Djukic

Co-founder, VP Engineering & Teledrive Experience

WHAT DRIVES ME

Vay is aiming to launch the first vehicle without a safety driver on public roads in Europe. This involves exciting engineering challenges, many of which have never been worked on before, ranging from autonomous vehicle technology, cybersecurity, backend, machine learning and safety-critical SW. Coming up with engineering solutions to these topics is something that I’m super excited to work on at Vay.

BACKGROUND

Team Lead at Microsoft, Senior Software Engineer at Skype. M. Sc. in Computer Science from Belgrade University.

Mariona
Bosch

VP Programs and Engineering Operations

WHAT DRIVES ME

Working closely with people from different cultures and professional backgrounds (hardware, software, operations, etc.) gives me the chance to learn new ways of approaching projects, structuring teams, and setting up processes every day. The results of this incredible teamwork are hugely rewarding, and visible in each step of our product.

BACKGROUND

Part of the management circle at AUDI AG, responsible for the implementation of prototypes at early development stages of new products (innovation vehicles, concept and pre-series vehicles, show cars, design models, testing single parts, PoCs, 3D-printing)

Justin
Spratt

CBO - Business & Corporate Development

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me is to work on goals that have a big impact on society. Additionally, I wanted to work with the smartest and most innovative people in the tech world. That’s better at Vay than any other company I’ve spoken to recently.

BACKGROUND

Responsible for global strategic partnerships at Uber, where he focused on deals with automotive OEMs, vehicle fleet operators, vehicle battery technology companies and electrification infrastructure providers. Was CEO and chief growth officer at Quirk. Began his professional life at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader after studying economics and finance. Built the first startup incubator in Africa in 2002 and has been mentoring founders of technology startups for over ten years. He is an angel investor in software technology and holds board positions in some of these companies.

Irene
Molins

Director of People

WHAT DRIVES ME

Driven by a passion for fostering vibrant organizational cultures, I am a seasoned leader specializing in People and Culture. Throughout my career journey, I’ve championed initiatives to empower teams, from crafting recruitment strategies aligned with core values to implementing data-driven processes for optimal People Operations.

BACKGROUND

My background spans roles where I’ve spearheaded the establishment of People departments from scratch and led teams through significant growth. I thrive on continuous learning, embracing remote/hybrid cultures and cutting-edge HR technologies. I leadled innovative solutions to optimise processes and initiatives that rewarded InfoJobs a “Best Place to Work”.
Outside of work, my passions for mountains and my dog, reflect my eagerness to explore the wild and love for 4-legs companions.

David
Gossow

Senior Principal Software Engineer

WHAT DRIVES ME

After having worked in autonomous robotics research for a long time in the Silicon Valley, I am thrilled to be working at a company that is finally bringing this technology into people’s everyday lives.

BACKGROUND

Tech Lead at Google Tango in Mountain View, Research Engineer at Willow Garage, yoga instructor since 2018.

Johanna
Loomis

Lead Industrial Designer

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me at Vay is the enthusiasm and passion for a vision that is embedded in the company culture, and at the same time the strict discipline in its implementation.

BACKGROUND

Industrial Product Design Lead at TEAMS DESIGN GmbH for over six years, started as a Trainee in Shanghai City. Worked as Industrial and Product Designer at LOTHAR BOHM ASSOCIATES LIMITED, Lutz Herrmann Design, Indeed Innovation and Werksdesign.

Vladimir
Bilonenko

Director of Software Engineering

WHAT DRIVES ME

Helping engineers to do their best and most important work. Elegance in software. Bringing ideas from books to real life and from one domain to another. Going from A to B fast.

BACKGROUND

Software Generalist. Maps and Mobility Geek (Lon, Lat not Lat, Lon). High Load at Yandex, Geo Analytics and Last Mile at HERE Maps, Mobility Platform at Daimler. Conway’s Law Enthusiast.

ALINA
PRESTI

Teledriver

WHAT DRIVES ME

A car enthusiast, driven by cars, driving and technology.

BACKGROUND

Nursery school teacher. Driver at Skoda’s start-up Caredriver.

Claire
Eagan

Director of Legal

WHAT DRIVES ME

I’m passionate about leveraging technology to democratize transportation and revolutionize the mobility landscape.

BACKGROUND

Senior Counsel Product & Strategy at Uber handling catastrophic loss claims and litigation, 13 years of experience in product & safety advising and risk mitigation, J.D. University of Illinois at Chicago.

Breaking barriers & building bridges at vConnect!

Our Vay team spared no effort to realize our company-wide vConnect event, “Cultural Connect,” June 14-16 in Berlin.
It brought together our exceptional colleagues from over 30 different countries for days of excitement, collaboration and unforgettable moments! 

What was this “Cultural Connect” event about?

At our core, we believe in fostering a strong sense of community, collaboration and continuous learning. So Thomas von der Ohe (co-founder & CEO) Fabrizio Scelsi (co-founder & VP of Engineering) and Bogdan Djukic (co-founder & Director of Engineering, Teledrive Experience) invited everyone from the Vay team to spend multiple days together to connect, build and grow.

Every single one of our diverse Vay team comes to vConnect exactly as they are. Our colleagues from over 30 nations bring their different experiences, backgrounds, professions and interests to various growth and builder sessions, vTalks and evening events – to connect, build and grow together.

Builder and growth session

A  great example of a successful builder session is the hackathon, organized by Bogdan, where many of our experts from different fields came together to collaborate across teams on 34 hackathon ideas. After 1.5 days, they came up with 10 different hack pitches. By sharing expertise and developing project ideas together, our groups of professionals with unique skills and talents were able to create an incredible hub for creativity and innovation.

Further builder and growth sessions like our “Production escape room”, “Don’t fear the RegEx”, the Soccer sessions and the traditional Table Tennis Tournament gave us the opportunity to build trust with each other and work as a team to achieve a common goal.

We learn about each other’s culture

During our World Food Festival we experienced the culinary part of our various cultures. We shared homemade Indian Samosas, Dal Fry, and Brazilian Pao de Queijo, Goiabada and Brigadeiro as well as Italian Lasagne, Russian Blinis and many more delicious dishes.

At the Festival Mask Builder Session we got creative and prepared traditional and eye-catching accessories for our boat ride through Berlin with good music and lots of good conversations and laughter, before ending the glittering night at our rooftop party location.

vTalks and Keynote speeches

Next to the external Keynote from Pauline Stockmann (Co-Founder & Clinical Psychologist at Happy Clappy Club) about mental health and wellbeing and the  “Coffee Masterclass” by Angelica from Madre Coffee Roasters, our vTalks have been highlights in these days of togetherness. We learned from each other about:

💡”Unconscious bias in the workplace – How can we overcome it?”

💡”Winning – What separates the best”

💡“How to master LinkedIn”

💡“Hacking Tools in Disguise”

💡“Vay Teledrive Academy – Insights on daily teledriving operations”

💡“An Introduction to Vay’s Electronics”

These joint team days have strengthened relationships within and between teams, improved communication about ideas, feedback, or common interests, and fostered creativity and innovation. In addition, we had the opportunity to celebrate our different backgrounds, traditions, and perspectives and the impact of each individual team member. We acknowledged that “we came long vay”, looked back at what we achieved in the last months and looked forward to “what is coming our vay”.

It is safe to say that we created unforgettable experiences and magical memories!

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