Thomas Berenz

After completing his mechanical engineering degree, Mr. Berenz began his career in Type Approval at Adam Opel AG. Over the course of his career, he held various management roles in type approval, up to and including Director, Global Regulations & Certification. Through his wide-ranging responsibilities in homologation, certification, and compliance, he gained valuable experience in whole-vehicle, system, and component approval and development, which he brought to both his professional work and association activities.

From 2004 to 2011, Mr. Berenz was a member of the VDA working group on type-approval procedures, which he chaired from 2005 to 2011. As a senior executive, Mr. Berenz was also additionally responsible from 2014 as Director for Certification, Safety & Field Investigations. During this time, he served as an advisory board member of the TÜV SÜD advisory board for Hesse and Germany, and was also involved with the Elinor Kirchner von Opel Foundation, which supports socially engaged young people.

In 2018, Mr. Berenz moved to Porsche AG’s Weissach Development Center, where, as Director Type Approval Whole Vehicle, Safety and Integral Safety, he is responsible within certification for future topics including battery safety, cybersecurity, and software update management. He has been a long-standing member of the VDA Committee on Technology, Safety and Environment. Mr. Berenz is married and has two children.