Jochen Renz was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany, the birthplace of the car and home to world leading automotive players. Growing up, Joe expected to work for a local automotive company as an electronics engineer one day. Instead, he ended up working for an enterprise application startup that was later acquired by Computer Associates (CA Technologies).

As part of an international career that lead him to Geneva, Sydney, Frankfurt, New York, London and Chicago, Joe has held several international positions at Computer Associates (CA Technologies), including COO of European Operations. For the last 3 years Joe has been part of the thriving innovation ecosystem in his new hometown of Chicago. Joe’s passion is the digital transformation of smart mobility and transportation, allowing him to pursue his passion for cars and IT. Joe brings an extensive network across the innovation ecosystem of New Mobility that spans hundreds of startups, corporations across multiple industries, incubators / accelerators, academia and the investor community.

He has served as a mentor at Techstars Mobility Detroit, Microsoft Accelerator, 1871 and many more. He is also an angel investor and advisor to several startups. In a world where technology reshapes mobility and transportation, Joe brings a rich set of experiences and an extensive network to the IOTA Foundation.

On being part of IOTA

I am excited about the opportunities that emerge with the digital transformation of mobility and transportation. Distributed ledger technologies have a bright future in a world of connected and autonomous vehicles, electric and shared mobility as well as smarter cities and intelligent infrastructure. My hometown Chicago and the Midwest combine a highly diverse economy grounded in tangible values with a strong software talent pool. We look forward to shaping the next generation Internet and the opportunities it presents to the New Mobility World TM , the region and the world.

We very happy to have Joe join the IOTA Foundation. He will play a key role in evangelizing distributed ledger technologies and its use cases in smart mobility and transportation globally. Joe’s extensive network will help evangelize distributed ledger technologies and IOTA in Chicago, Illinois and the broader Midwestern United States. Everyone give him a warm welcome!