Magna Names Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri Chief Executive Officer

• Kotagiri, current Magna President and 21-year company veteran, to succeed Don Walker
• Walker to retire at end of 2020 after 15 consecutive years as CEO, 33 years with Magna
• Media conference call to be held today, October 20, at 8 a.m. EDT

AURORA, Ontario, Oct. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magna announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2021. Don Walker, who served as CEO between 1994 and 2001, and since 2005, will retire at the end of 2020. In his 33-year career at Magna, Walker served in various leadership roles including Vice President Product Development and Engineering, Chief Operating Officer and President, in addition to Chief Executive Officer of former Magna “spinco,” Intier Automotive Inc. between 2001 and 2005.

“Given Swamy’s role in aligning the company’s strategy with the megatrends impacting new mobility and the ‘car of the future,’ he is the right leader to take Magna forward,” said William L. Young, Chairman of Magna’s Board of Directors. “Swamy has a strong command of the business, sound judgment, and is a strategic thinker who can drive disciplined execution. I’ve been impressed by Swamy’s ability to inspire people to think innovatively and deliver their best work to benefit Magna’s customers. Swamy also has an innate leadership quality of being able to take complex problems and break them down so that people can understand and solve them.”

"I would also like to commend Don for his success and thank him for his dedicated service,” Young added. “Under his strong leadership, Magna has grown to be the third-largest global automotive supplier, one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, and a perennial winner of customer, industry and technology awards.”

“Leading Magna and working with all our great employees has been a tremendous honor and I am extremely proud of everything we have accomplished together,” stated Don Walker, current Magna CEO. “In addition to Swamy’s strong technical and operational strengths, he has played an integral role in advancing the company’s position in the changing mobility landscape and encouraging a start-up mindset to solve problems with solutions from outside our industry. I am confident in Swamy’s future-focused approach and leadership to move Magna forward into the next decade and beyond.”