Leadership Team

Phil Eyler is President and Chief Executive Officer of Gentherm, the global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management and pneumatic comfort technologies. Eyler joined Gentherm in December 2017 and serves on the Company’s Board of Directors.

As President and CEO, Eyler leads more than 14,000 employees in 14 countries, where he is responsible for the strategic direction and operational leadership of the Company. He is leading the company’s quest to strengthen the core business of growth initiatives on thermal management and pneumatic comfort technologies, Battery Thermal Management solutions and medical patient temperature management systems. The company is also transforming the future of personalized passenger thermal comfort with the smart, individual climate zone solution named ClimateSense®, tailored to the autonomous electrified and ridesharing ecosystem of the future.

Eyler joined Gentherm from Harman, where he served as President of the Connected Car division. Under his leadership, he oversaw the $3 billion division of more than 8,000 employees that was dedicated to developing integrated connected car systems encompassing infotainment, telematics, connected safety and cyber security solutions, among others.

Throughout his 20-year career at Harman, Eyler served in a variety of leadership roles of increasing responsibility. He was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Harman’s Global Automotive Audio business. In this position, he delivered double-digit growth through organic growth, acquisitions and spearheading award-winning technology innovations. Prior to leading the Global Automotive Audio business, Eyler was responsible for Harman’s North American Automotive business and led Harman’s North American and Asian manufacturing group. He began his career at Siemens.

Eyler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Rafael Barkas is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain, reporting to Phil Eyler.

Rafael leads key global areas of manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, supply chain, purchasing and quality across the company. Prior to this position, Rafael was Gentherm’s Vice President of Battery Thermal Management.

Rafael joined Gentherm from Magneti Marelli where he served as the Head of NAFTA Electronics. In that role he was responsible for leading sales, engineering, project management, purchasing, quality and manufacturing for Magneti Marelli’s Electronics Business Line in NAFTA. Prior to that he held roles of increasing responsibility at Harman International where he served as Vice President of Operations, and gained valuable international experience where he served as the Vice President of the Automotive Audio division in China and had full P&L responsibility. Before joining Harman, he held various roles at Johnson Controls.

Rafael holds a Master of Business Administration from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Steve Fletcher is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of its Medical business, reporting to Phil Eyler.

Steve leads Gentherm’s global Medical business where he is responsible for profitable growth, developing and launching new products, and continuing to drive synergies with the Company’s Automotive product lines.

Previously, Steve was the Executive Vice President, Halo Diagnostics, at C2 Sense, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off. At C2 Sense he led the Company’s transition to Medical Diagnostics through the development and launch of a COVID-19 point-of-care home diagnostics solution. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles as President and Chief Commercial Officer at Mologic Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer at GC America, and Vice President and General Manager, Water Analysis Instruments at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Steve began his career with 3M Corporation where he held positions of increasing responsibility.

Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban and Economic Geography from the University of Victoria and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He also holds a Six Sigma green belt from 3M Corporation.

Wayne Kauffman is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, reporting to Phil Eyler.

Wayne oversees all legal matters for Gentherm including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation, securities regulation, corporation compliance and data privacy. Additionally, Wayne oversees Corporate Development inclusive of merger and acquisition opportunities that advance the Company's corporate strategy.

Prior to this role, Wayne led Gentherm’s intellectual property policy and development. He began his legal career with the national IP law firm of Harness, Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C. where he was responsible for assisting clients in securing patent rights. Wayne began his career with General Motors, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility over his 17-year tenure in vehicle manufacturing, product development and vehicle safety and integration in both the U.S. Canada.

Wayne holds a J.D. in Law from Wayne State University and Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.

Barb Runyon is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer reporting to Phil Eyler.

Barb leads the overall human resources strategy, including total rewards, talent acquisition and talent management, employee engagement and human resources. She is also responsible for leading global Corporate Communications.

Prior to joining Gentherm, Barb worked as Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at La-Z-Boy Incorporated, a global leader in residential furniture, from 2015 through 2018. Prior to that, she held roles of increasing responsibility at PepsiCo/The Pepsi Bottling Group for over 14 years.

Barb graduated with a Master of Business Administration with emphasis in Organizational Development from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources from Michigan State University.

Barb is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Loyola High School in Detroit and the Vice President of the Advisory Board for the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at Michigan State University. Barb also was recently appointed to the Board of the Michigan Colleges Alliance.

Thomas Stocker is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Europe Automotive, and Global Pneumatic Comfort, and Battery Performance Systems (BPS) reporting to Phil Eyler. Thomas is based at the Company’s Odelzhausen, Germany location and serves as Managing Director of Europe.

Thomas is responsible for growth and profitability of the automotive business in Europe, managing customer relationships, product development, manufacturing, and delivery of quality products. Additionally, he leads the strategic development of the global BPS, pneumatic comfort and fluid valve systems portfolio with our OEM customers worldwide. Gentherm’s BPS offer a wide range of technology that supports our customers’ electromobility needs today and in the future. These products are utilized in the thermal management of modern xEV vehicles, which includes full hybrid electric vehicles (FHEV), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV), but also Cell Connecting Technologies for the sensing of critical data and the configuration of batteries.

Previously, Thomas was the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering at HENSOLDT GmbH, a global defense and security electronics company. Prior to HENSOLDT, he held several senior-level business unit leadership positions at Harman International over the course of nearly six years. Prior to this, Thomas held various roles of increasing responsibility at BMW where he led the execution of some of the most advanced technologies for the automaker.

Thomas holds a master’s degree in electronics from Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences.

Vishnu Sundaram is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, reporting to Phil Eyler.

Vishnu is responsible for leading Gentherm’s technology strategy, advanced product engineering, longer term R&D, and the Company’s partnership ecosystem to continue Gentherm’s heritage of introducing innovations in Climate and Comfort, Pneumatic Lumbar and Massage, Battery Performance Solutions (BPS), Electronics and Software systems, and Patient Thermal Solutions.

Vishnu comes to Gentherm from Stellantis, where he was the Senior Vice President, Head of Cockpit Connected Services. Prior to Stellantis, he was the Senior Vice President of Telematics for Harman/Samsung. He began his career at Intel and later moved to Trilogy, where he was Technical Fellow in Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning projects. He has extensive entrepreneurial and startup experience where he was the co-founder of Lifeblob and founded Interchain.

Vishnu holds a master's degree in software engineering from PSG College of Technology and has completed the Executive General Management Program with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the lead and co-inventor of 6 patents and was named a Rising Star in 2018 by the Automotive News.

Leo Wang is Gentherm’s Vice President and General Manager, Asia Automotive, reporting to Phil Eyler. Leo is based at the Company’s Shanghai, China location and serves as Managing Director of Asia.

Leo is responsible for the growth and profitability of the automotive business in Asia, developing new business and organizational capability, managing customer relationships, product development, and delivery of quality products.

Since joining Gentherm in 2022, Leo has quickly established himself as a strong leader, where he has led the team to drive profitable growth in China and support the overall growth in Asia.

Prior to Gentherm, Leo served in increasing roles of responsibility at Garrett Motion Inc. (previously the Transportation Systems business of Honeywell), most recently as the General Manager of China PV Gasoline Boosting System with full profit and loss responsibilities. Prior to Garrett Motion, he worked for Eaton Vehicle Group from 2006 to 2010 and Shanghai Automotive Brake System from 2005 to 2006. Leo holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai University and an MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University and KEDGE Business School, France.

Leo holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai University and an MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University and KEDGE Business School, France.

Jaymi Wilson is Gentherm’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America Automotive, Global Sales and Marketing, reporting to Phil Eyler.

Jaymi is responsible for growth and profitability of the automotive business in North America, managing customer relationships, product development, manufacturing, and delivery of quality products. She leads the strategic development of the global Electronics product portfolio and global sales operations, marketing, and branding initiatives across the company. Since joining Gentherm in 2013, Jaymi has assumed roles of increasing responsibility, where she most recently served as Senior Vice President of Strategy, Marketing, and Corporate Communications. Prior to that she was Vice President and General Manager of Gentherm’s Medical Business.

Her career in the automotive industry has spanned manufacturing, engineering, business planning, sales management, strategy, business, and corporate development at Visteon, SMR Automotive Global, and Gentherm.

Jaymi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University.