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The Supervisory Board of Bayer has appointed Werner Baumann to the board of directors from October 1, with responsibility for Portfolio Strategy and Management. Johannes Dietsch will join the board of directors on September 1 as CFO, the position which up to now had been Baumann’s. These appointments are instrumental for enabling current chairman of the board of directors Martin Dikkens to extend his mandate by two years only when it reaches its natural 5-year expiry date.

The appointment of Thomas Ingelfinger, Stefan de Loecker and Zhengrong Liu to the board of directors of Beiersdorf with effect from July 1 brings its number to six. The three executives gained valuable first-hand knowledge on how best to handle their new responsibilities from posts rated a mere one rank lower. The aim of the appointments, notes chairman of the board of directors Reinhard Pöllath, is to ensure continuity, and foster internationalisation of the board that currently numbers 12, including three women. The company’s last report points out that diversity in the appointment of executives,  gender equality in particular, is high on the boardroom’s list of priorities. Ingelfinger’s future responsibility will include Europe (excluding Germany), while de Loecker will handle the Near East (including Russia, Turkey, the Middle East, Africa and India). Liu, on the other hand, will look after human resources. Indeed he headed human resources in LANCESS from 2004 to 2013, and, on October 1, 2013 as Senior Vice President, became head of Human Resources of Hamburg’s only DAX-listed group reporting to Ulrich Schmidt who remains on the board of directors. The number of board members was 6 until the end of 2011, three of whom resigned, or had to resign by mid 2013  at the latest.

Suzanne Lagarge left the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank, with effect June 30. Her mandate would have expired in 2018. According to the bank, her resignation is not to be attributed to disagreement. The appointments board has proposed Louis Parent for the vacancy, and he will join the Supervisory Board on July 1.

The new head strategist at Evonik Industries now has a name. Christian Kullmann was appointed to the company’s board of directors by its Supervisory Board as from July 1. The former head of Communications for the chemical group is now Chief Strategic Officer for the centralised areas of Group Strategy and Performance, Law & Compliance, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Security.

Prof. Wolfgang Plischke, former boardroom member of Bayer, has been voted on to the Supervisory Board of Evotec in direct succession to Walter Wenninger as chair, with Wenninger now vice chair. Other new appointments to the Supervisory Board are Prof. Iris Löw-Friedrich, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Biopharma Development Solutions of UCB and Prof. Paul Linus Herrling, Head of Global Research in Novartis Pharma and president of the Novartis  Institute of Tropical Medicine. Mary Taner, Roland Oetker and Prof. Andreas Pinkwart have instead left the Supervisory Board, while Claus Braestrup and Bernd Hirsch have been confirmed in their positions.

David Frink is the new spokesperson for the board of directors of Gerry  Weber International. The appointment was announced by Ernst Schröder during the general shareholders’ meeting. And so, after 41 years, Gerhard Weber will resign his post at the end of October. It will come as no surprise that he is moving directly on to the Supervisory Board without any cooling-off period. Wolf-Albrecht Prautzsch has resigned from his position as shareholders’ representative on the Supervisory Board.

After withdrawing from operational business at the end of 2011¸ Hans-Jürgen Thaus has joined the Supervisory Board of KRONES. A native of Graz in Austria, Thaus was elected on June 25 as a new member to replace Jochen Klein who had retired for reasons of age. After appointing Markus Tischer as a new member to the board of directors at the beginning of the year for the area of International Services and Operations, the company has also found a replacement to succeed longstanding boardroom member Werner Frischholz,. A communiqué issued  by the major producer of soft-drink bottling plants names the new boardroom member as Ralf Goldbrunner who, on September 1 will take on the responsibility for Plant and Components. The board of directors is made up of chair Volker Kronseder and five members.

OSRAM Licht is divorcing from Peter Laier. In the course of the extraordinary meeting held on June 2, the Supervisory Board resolved to terminate the mandate of 45-year-old Laier for June. The Munich-based former Siemens subsidiary  motivates the decision as “stemming from divergences at boardroom level on company orientation” .

Jürgen Muth has resigned as CFO of SGL Carbon with effect from 30 June. The move, agreed with the company, has nothing to do with the crisis the MDax-listed company finds itself in. Both Supervisory Board and board of directors regret the decision They expressed their gratitude to Muth for his efforts and wish him well for the future. His place as CFO will be taken by Michael Majerus on July 1 under a three-year contract

König und Bauer: new boardroom member

The new CFO of König und Bauer AG, printing machinery manufacturer, is Mahias Dähn. His predecessor Axel Kaufmann, resigned voluntarily. Dähn has worked in Bosch, Debitel, Loyalty Partner and MAN, and was CFO with Zumtobel AG in Switzerland.

Aixtron: Goetzeler more powerful still

TecDax listed Aixtron, is cutting back on the number of its boardroom members. After the departure of former CFO Wolgang Breme financial affairs will be looked after by chair Martin Goetzeler. The contract with Chief Operating Officer Bernd Schulte, by contrast, has been renewed for a further three years until 2018.

Bechtle: New chair of the Supervisory Board

Matthias Metz is the new chair of the Supervisory Board of Bechtle AG in temporary substitution of company founder Gerhard Schick. Until his retirement in May, Metz had been chairman of the board of Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, Germany’s largest building society.