Peter Mertens has served as the Chairperson of the Valens Board of the Directors since 2020. Mr. Mertens brings more than 35 years of experience in the automotive industry, having held senior positions with major OEMs, including CTO at Volvo Cars for six years, General Motors Global Line Executive for eight years, various management positions at Mercedes Benz, and member of the Board of Management of Audi AG, responsible for Technical Development and Design. Mr. Mertens also served as member of the Board of Directors of several companies, such as Polestar SE, Zenuety SE, Audi Sport GmbH, Audi China, Volkswagen Financial Service, Recogni Inc. and Faurecia. Mr. Mertens is the founding Chairman of AID/Argo AI Europe. Mr. Mertens serves as the chairman of the board of Aurora Labs and is a member of the board of directors of proteanTECS and V-HOLA. Mr. Mertens was a Fulbright-scholar at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA. He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and a PhD in Production Engineering and Industrial Engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern where he served as a Member of the staff.