Note: This story was updated on May 9 to correct the Volkswagen title held by Johan de Nysschen.
Johan de Nysschen, a long-time automotive industry executive who most recently served in Chattanooga as COO for Volkswagen’s North American region, has lived in various places across the globe — such as his native South Africa, Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York City.
But de Nysschen, who just turned 64 in March and is now retired, didn’t choose any of those to call home in his later years. He chose the Scenic City, where he lives with his wife on Chickamauga Lake.
“When the time came for me to decide to retire from Volkswagen, there was absolutely no need for us to look anywhere else in terms of deciding where we wanted to spend the rest of our years,” de Nysschen says.
Born and raised in South Africa, de Nysschen began his career with BMW in the early 1990s, decades before coming to Chattanooga. A few years later he began work at Audi; and by the end of the decade, he was appointed president of the company’s Japan region in Tokyo.