Top Volkswagen officials visited with a Chattanooga employee in her home today as a gesture by the company to get to know members of its work force.

Dr. Jochem Heizmann, a VW board member in charge of worldwide group production, spent about 15 minutes with Marlena Russell, who joined the Chattanooga operation in February as a senior recruiter.

Mrs. Russell called the visit to her home in East Brainerd “an incredible honor.”

“It’s one of the most unexpected highlights of my career,” she said.

Dr. Heizmann was joined by Hans-Herbert Jagla, who oversees human resources in Chattanooga, and Frank Fischer, who is chief executive of VW’s Chattanooga operations.

VW is holding ceremonies later today to celebrate construction under way at its $1 billion auto assembly plant at Enterprise South Industrial Park. That plant is scheduled to go into production in 2011 with an expected employment of about 2,000.