Chapter 3: VW operationalizes its Dieselgate monitorship

Volkswagen Board Member Hiltrud Werner and Chief Coordinator Dr. Thomas Meiers gathered a cross-functional team of 80 people from first, second, and third lines of defense areas: engineering, environmental management, procurement, sales, and finance (first line); risk, compliance, quality management, and human resources (second); and internal audit (third). It wasn’t about projecting a certain strength in numbers. It was about providing the monitor team with all the resources they could ever need. In particular, Volkswagen wanted to connect the monitor team with people who had the relevant information “at their fingertips,” explained Werner.

“With a monitorship, you’re always working with one resource that is limited, which is time,” said Meiers. “It was not only limited to the company but also to the monitor, because there were milestones the monitor wanted to reach in his respective [monitor/auditor] reports.”