Management

Sarah Stark has been Director General of the German Railway Industry Association (VDB) since 1 March 2023, representing the interests of more than 265 companies that manufacture rail products and provide services for rail transport vis-à-vis the Federal Government.

Before joining the VDB, Sarah Stark spent 15 years in various roles at the mobility association Deutsches Verkehrsforum e.V. (DVF), most recently as a member of its management team with responsibility for European transport policy, rail transport and security.

Her engineering studies in Berlin and Oxford laid the professional foundations, which she first deepened in transport research at TU Berlin.

Axel Schuppe was born in Berlin in 1963. After studying electrical engineering and information technology at TU Chemnitz, he began his career in the rail industry in 1990 as a development engineer at the then AEG-Westinghouse, supporting vehicle projects in Germany and abroad.

From 1996, he successfully held positions in engineering and technical controlling at Adtranz, providing decisive impetus for the introduction of the first low-floor tram in Japan. From 1999, he took on technical management roles in Mannheim and Berlin.

From 2001, he headed the Engineering department of the Propulsion & Controls division at Bombardier Transportation in Hennigsdorf. There he was responsible for the successful integration of Adtranz organisational units into the Bombardier Group and for the strategic realignment of the department into a systems partner.

Axel Schuppe has been Managing Director of the German Railway Industry Association (VDB) since 1 April 2005.