Title Vice President, Corporate Business Development Company Western Digital Bio Mr. René Christian Hartner is the Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Western Digital. Mr. Hartner joined the Corporate Strategy team at SanDisk Corp (acquired by Western Digital in May 2016) in January, 2011, and oversaw SanDisk's global mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and strategic corporate business development activities. Prior to SanDisk, he was the Chief Marketing Officer at VIA optronics and General Manager at VIA "Optronics' North America and China divisions, where he successfully led the company into the consumer-electronics segment. Mr. Hartner holds a Diplom-Ingenieur in Vehicle Engineering from the Munich University of Applied Sciences, with a concentration in Airframe Structural Design; as well as an M.B.A. from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, with a concentration in Finance.