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Vision

A safer, more enjoyable journey for everyone

Mission

Create the world’s most compelling, immersive experience across transportation, for today and tomorrow.

About

BRINGING THE POWER OF AI TO THE TRANSPORTATION USER EXPERIENCE

Cerence is the global industry leader in AI-powered interaction across transportation, working with the world’s leading automakers and mobility OEMs to drive innovation in the car, two-wheeler, and truck user experience.

What sets us apart? 20 years of transportation and AI expertise. Deep innovation partnership with nearly every major automaker. Unmatched dataset and nearly 800 patents. And automotive-grade, deeply integrated solutions available across an extensive global language portfolio.

Our goal? To use AI to transform the way users interact with their vehicles, making the experience more natural, intuitive, engaging, and productive – for both today’s cars, two-wheelers, and trucks, and for the next generation of vehicles.

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Cerence Leadership

Stefan Ortmanns
Stefan Ortmanns
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Stefan Ortmanns, Ph.D. is the chief executive officer of Cerence, the global industry leader in conversational AI for mobility. An accomplished voice and automotive technology executive, he most recently led Cerence’s Core Products business as executive vice president & general manager following the company’s separation from Nuance Communications in 2019. Ortmanns joined Nuance in 2003 and served in a variety of senior management and engineering roles, including executive vice president & general manager of the company’s Automotive Division. Prior to that, Ortmanns held positions at Philips Speech Processing, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and the University of Technology Aachen. Ortmanns holds degrees in mechanical engineering, computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from RWTH Aachen University.
Jennifer Salinas
Jennifer Salinas
Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer
As EVP & Chief Administrative Officer, Jennifer Salinas oversees the company’s day-to-day administrative activities and corporate operations, including facilitating strategic planning, partnering with the leadership team to define and track company-level and functional objectives, advancing policy and process improvement, and leading the company’s ongoing transformation efforts. Jennifer also leads Cerence’s legal team as the company’s General Counsel, as well as the Global Technology Services organization. Prior to joining Cerence as SVP & General Counsel in April 2022, Jennifer was Head of Litigation at Lenovo, the largest PC company worldwide, and General Counsel of the Infrastructure Solutions Group, a $7 billion Lenovo business unit. Her extensive background also includes more than 25 years of experience, including ten years as a Partner at several prominent law firms. Jennifer is the former President of the Hispanic National Bar Association and has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout her career. Jennifer earned her Juris Doctor degree in Law from Loyola University Los Angeles, graduating cum laude and in the order of the coif, and a bachelor’s in Political Science from San Diego State University.
Nils Schanz
Nils Schanz
Chief Product Officer

As Chief Product Officer, Nils Schanz leads Cerence’s core mobility products, leading its digital cabin strategy, product portfolio, and customer delivery across the company’s global operations. A respected and accomplished automotive and AI technology leader, Nils joined Cerence from Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler, where he developed the highly regarded MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), the automaker’s intuitive, high-tech multimedia system, and launched other widely acclaimed innovations such as the award-winning MBUX Hyperscreen and the Voice Assistant “Hey Mercedes.” He most recently served as Global Head of User Interaction & Voice Control, leading a cross-functional team with global responsibility for digital user interface and user experience. Prior to his most recent role, Nils held a variety of positions at Daimler and Mercedes-Benz in R&D, Product Management, and Marketing. In addition to his Germany-based roles, he also spent time in Silicon Valley as Director of IoT & Wearables at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America.
Mentz
Christian Mentz
Chief Revenue Officer
As Chief Revenue Officer, Christian Mentz drives Cerence’s go-to-market strategy, accelerating growth and expanding the company’s relationships with its automaker and mobility customers worldwide. In this role, Christian leads Cerence’s sales, business development, sales engineering, and marketing teams. A seasoned automotive technology executive, Christian joined Cerence from Amazon, where he most recently led Global Business Development and Marketing for Amazon Smart Vehicles and was responsible for commercial operations and go-to-market strategies across a wide range of automotive digital cabin products and services. Previously, Christian held progressing automotive sales leadership roles at Nuance Communications, including Vice President - Automotive Sales & Sales Engineering. He holds a Master’s Degree in Communications from The Philipp University of Marburg, Germany, and continued his education in Change and Innovation Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Sachin Sahney
Sachin Sahney
Chief Human Resources Officer
As Cerence’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Sachin Sahney is responsible for global employee programs, recruitment, and HR operations. Prior to joining Cerence, Sachin served as Nuance’s Vice President, Human Resources. Previously, Sachin held human resources leadership roles at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, and Pfizer, where he worked closely with the organizations’ executive teams to drive employee engagement, improve talent acquisition, and inspire human capital advancements across the globe. Sachin holds a B.A. from The Delhi University and MBA from New Hampshire College.
Tony Rodriquez
Tony Rodriquez
Interim Chief Financial Officer
As Interim CFO, Tony is responsible for the management and oversight of Cerence’s finance organization, including accounting, tax, FP&A, treasury, facilities, and procurement. Tony is a CFO Partner at CSuite Financial Partners, a financial executive services firm, where he provides financial, strategic, and operational leadership consulting to private and publicly traded companies. Tony has spent the last 25+ years as a financial leader in both private and public corporations managing all aspects of finance and accounting. Tony has served as CFO and CAO for companies including The Bouqs Company, the leading farm-to-consumer online floral retailer; TouchCommerce Inc., a rapidly growing SaaS-based digital interaction technology and service; and others across industries. He began his career at KPMG LLP where he serviced international public and private companies in the manufacturing, retail, distribution, and technology sectors as an assurance senior manager. Tony is a certified public accountant (inactive) with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from California State University, Northridge.

More than 500 MILLION Cars with Cerence Technology

That’s 1 in every 2 cars in the world!

BMW
SAIC
Toyota
Hyundai
Volkswagen
Stellantis
Honda
GMC
Ford
Geely
Mercedes Benz
Jaguar
Renault
Subaru
Suzuki
Ssangyong
Dongfeng
Great Wall Motors
Maruti Suzuki
Mahindra
Tata
BAIC Group

Awards

2022

CES Innovation Awards Honoree
CES Innovation Awards Honoree
Cerence Co-Pilot

2021

Pace
Automotive News’s 2021 PACE Winner

2021

Voice
Voice Developer of the Year

Cerence Locations

We have 20 offices around the globe, making our home in the global centers of AI and automotive innovation. Perhaps we’ll see you out on the road.

Burlington (HQ)
25 Burlington Mall Road, Suite 416
Burlington, MA
01803
Farmington Hills
39255 Country Club Drive, Discovery Centre,
Suites B-30
48331
 
Ieper
Dehemlaan 31, Office No. 9
8900
Merelbeke
Guldensporenpark 32, Building 4
Floors - 3rd and 4th
9820
Montreal
1500 Boulevard Robert-Bourassa, Suites 910, 915 & 935
H3A 3S8
Beijing
One Indigo Office Tower, 20 Jiuxianqiao Road,
Chaoyang District, Suites 502-503
100125
Chengdu
No. 1199 North Tianfu Avenue, Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone,
Units Nos. 2101, 2102, 2103, 2107, 2108, 2109, 2201, 2202, 2203 & 2204
610041
Shanghai GARAGE
No. 1888 Xinjinqiao Road, Pudong New Area,
Jinlingzhidu Park, Unite 103, Building 7
201206
Shanghai Office
No. 1198 Century Avenue, Century Link Tower,
805-808, Floor 8, Tower 1
200120
Aachen
Juelicher Strasse 376
52070
Saarbruecken
Trippstadter Str. 122, Saarbrücken (University)
Sindelfingen
Umberto-Nobile Strasse 19/1  2OG
71063
Ulm
Soeflinger Strasse 100, Floors Ground, 1-4
89077
Pune
Unit no 1. 2nd floor, Tower A. Nalanda Shelters Pvt Ltd-SEZ, Blueridge,
Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Hinjewadi, Phase-1, Pune 411057
Bangalore
Prestige Shantiniketan 2nd Floor Cresent Tower 4,
Situated On Sy. NOS. 70,71,72,73, 74/1,74/2, 77, 77/2 & Krisnarajapuram Hobil, Suite 215,221, Bangalore 560066
Torino
Strada del Lionetto no. 6, Floors 3-4, Basement
10146
Tokyo
16F Toranomon Kotohira Tower,
1-2-8 Toranomon, Minato-ku,
105-0001
Seoul
504 Teheran-ro, Haesung Building, 4/F,
Gangnam-gu Regus - Seoul Gangnam Haesung Building
Heerlen
CBS Weg 11
6412

In Our Customers’ and Partners’ Words

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“With software at the core of the Volkswagen of the future, it’s critical that we quickly deploy meaningful innovation powered by advancements in AI. By leveraging Cerence Chat Pro, we are able to bring added value and a fun and engaging experience to our drivers with minimal integration effort and on a short development and deployment timeline, ensuring our customers are benefitting from new AI-powered conversational technology.”

- Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Board of Management responsible for New Mobility, Volkswagen

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“Generative AI and automotive LLMs are expected to enable new, intuitive, and personalized user experiences, capabilities, and features both inside and outside the car. By tapping NVIDIA’s core expertise in cloud and edge technologies, Cerence can more quickly train, scale, and deploy these models within their in-car user-experience platform to enable safer, smarter, and more enjoyable rides.”

- Ali Kani, Vice President of Automotive, NVIDIA

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“Generative AI has the potential to fundamentally change the way we interact with the car through natural language. With Cerence’s deep automotive expertise, we are together well positioned to support automakers in creating highly differentiated customer experiences.”

- Dominik Wee, Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing & Mobility, Microsoft

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“We consider Cerence to be a pivotal partner in our global expansion efforts. We are very grateful for their provision of intelligent products and services. This collaboration is set to fortify GWM’s global strategy, promising a more intelligent and user-centric interactive experience for our customers across the globe. As we look to the future, we are committed to working hand-in-hand with Cerence to deliver superior intelligent products and services, meeting and exceeding the transportation needs of our worldwide customers.”

- Nicole Wu, Vice President of Intelligence, Great Wall Motor

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“Our partnership with Cerence on the next generation Renault HMI will offer intuitive and natural interactions that deliver real value to our drivers and also to the passengers.”

- Luc Julia, Chief Scientific Officer

Discover More About the Future of Moving Experiences