u-blox announces new leadership structure

Thalwil, Switzerland - May 27, 2026 - u-blox, a global leader in positioning and short-range communication technologies for automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, today announced an updated leadership structure to support the company’s next phase of development and growth. Under the new structure, Matthias Poppel will serve as CEO, Andreas Thiel as CTO, and Christian Spörri as CFO.

With this structure u-blox is establishing a leadership team focused on innovation, technology, and long-term growth across existing and new market segments.  

Matthias Poppel joined u-blox as Chief Growth Officer at the end of last year and worked closely with the Executive Committee on the company’s strategy, structures, and market opportunities. Prior to joining u-blox, he was Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Swissbit. He previously held international leadership roles across the semiconductor and technology sectors, including Texas Instruments and NXP, where he worked across the entire value chain - from Sales and Product Management to leading Business Units.

Christian Spörri has been employed by u-blox since April 4, 2022, as Global Head of Accounting, Reporting and Tax in the Finance department and brings strong experience in Finance Operations. Current CFO Camila Japur will leave the company to pursue a new opportunity outside u-blox.

Claudio Simao, Chairman of the Board of Directors of u-blox, said: 

“Matthias Poppel brings extensive international management experience, strong strategic capabilities, and a deep understanding of technology and growth markets. Together with Andreas Thiel’s technical excellence and the broad expertise of the rest of the Executive Committee, u-blox is well positioned for its next phase of growth across both existing and new business areas.”

Ronald Ayles, member of the Board of Directors and Managing Partner of Advent International added: 

“We are excited to welcome Matthias Poppel in the role of the CEO of u-blox and Christian Spörri in the role of CFO. We believe that the leadership team of u-blox is well positioned to capture the growth opportunities across existing and new market segments while staying at the forefront of developing state-of-the-art positioning solutions.”

“u-blox has strong technology, great teams, and significant future potential,” 

says Matthias Poppel. 

“I look forward to actively shaping the company’s next phase together with the teams and further strengthening our innovation and growth capabilities.”

As part of the new leadership setup, Andreas Thiel, co-founder of u-blox, will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer. In this position, he will focus on accelerating u-blox’s technological development and further strengthening the company’s innovation capabilities.

“Technology and innovation have always been a core part of my work and motivation,” 

explains Andreas Thiel. 

“With increasing scaling, this is the right time for me to fully concentrate my energy on technology and innovation again and to further drive the technological development of u-blox.”