Swamy Kotagiri
CEO
Magna International Inc.
Swamy Kotagiri became Chief Exective Officer of Magna International effective Jan. 1, 2021. He is also a member of the Board of Directors. As CEO, Kotagiri is focused on keeping Magna at the forefront of a changing mobility landscape and accelerating the company’s growth for the benefit of employees, shareholders and customers.
Kotagiri has more than 25 years of industry experience, including 21 with Magna. He has been instrumental in the company’s recent growth and evolution through his operational leadership, and has aligned the organization’s strategy around the megatrends shaping future mobility.
Previously, Kotagiri served as President of Magna and helped drive overall strategy including strengthening the alignment between the company’s customer strategy, R&D initiatives and new mobility activities. Additionally, Kotagiri oversaw Magna’s Power & Vision segment as well as corporate research and development programs and related investments.
Prior to his role as President, Kotagiri was Chief Technology Officer and managed all aspects of the company’s innovation and new product strategy and development both at a corporate level and in conjunction with Magna’s product groups. Under Kotagiri’s direction, the company strengthened its culture of innovation and enhanced its open-for-business mentality that resulted in several partnerships and investments in areas including autonomy, connectivity and electronics.
Additionallly in his tenure, Kotagiri held the position of President of Magna Powertrain and President Magna Electronics, responsible for operations, strategy and new technologies including powertrain electrification, ADAS, vehicle connectivity, and integration of a variety of electrical components and systems throughout Magna products. Prior to that, he served in various engineering leadership positions at Cosma International, a Magna operating unit. During that time, he was responsible for innovation strategy development as well as the launch and execution of new technologies while serving as Executive Vice President of Global Engineering and R&D. Before joining Cosma, Kotagiri was a Structural Engineer at General Motors.
Kotagiri has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University with a specialization in materials and structural engineering. He has more than 12 patents in automotive product and process design to his credit and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Engineering Society of Detroit.