Dr Thomas Becker was Vice President Government and External Affairs at the BMW Group in Munich from 2007 to September 2019. During his time in the area of Government and External Affairs he supervised the worldwide representation of the BMW Group's political interests, the company's approach to integrate political topics into the product as well as business communications and the steering of the sustainability communication of the company. He started his career as an expert in the department of environmental policy at the Association of the German Industry (BDI) in Berlin. He later held several leadership positions at the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) in Frankfurt. Before his current role with the BMW Group, Dr. Becker worked as Deputy Managing Director at VDA, where he was responsible for the association's co-management. From 1988 until 2003 Dr. Becker served as a reserve officer with the rank of Captain in the German Air Force. He received his PhD degree (Dr. rer. pol.) with Professor Dr. Ekkehard Kappler at the Reinhard-Mohn Foundation Chair for Management, Economics, and Social Evolution at the University of Witten / Herdecke with magna cum laude. He also holds a diploma in economics from the University of Cologne.