People

A recent Airbus communiqué announced that Günter Butschek of EADS left the company at the end of 2014 to pursue other career objectives. During his tenure, Butschek had also headed Airbuses’s German division. The former COO joined the aviation group in 2011 and later became the second most important person in aircraft construction after Frenchman Fabrice Brégier. The choice of 62year-old Briton Tom Williams to succeed Butschek as COO, is probable indication that his appointment is not envisaged as long-term. Similarly to 64-year-old John Leahy, Williams belongs to the old guard of Airbus top management. Klaus Richter, head of group purchases, has also joined the Executive Committee, and is now the Airbus representative in Germany.

Norbert Reithofer is leaving the management board of BMW - Bayerische Motoren earlier than expcted. Joachim Milberg will step down to enable Reithofer to take over the presidency of the Supervisory Board after the next shareholders’ meeting on May 13, during which Harald Krüger is expected to be appointed chair of the Munich-based car manufacturer’s management board. Furthermore, BMW announced that Klaus Fröhlich, presently in charge of the production lines of small- , to mid-sized vehicles will replace Herbert Diess as head of development from 2015 with immediate effect.

Hans-Jürgen Duensing has been appointed to the management board of Continental to replace Heinz-Gerhard Wente who is terminating his contract early on April 30. The Conti executive will take his seat on the boardroom on May 1, when he also becomes head of ContiTech. Duensing will have the task of maintaining ContiTech’s primacy in caoutchouc and plastic materials technology cultivated by Wente.

Daimler (formerly DaimlerChrysler) has promoted Ola Källenius. Effective January 1, the 45-year-old Swede, head of automobile sales is on the board of management, and will continue to be head of automobile sales worldwide. This appointment raises the number of members of the Daimler board of management to 8. Källenius is the youngest member of the Daimler board of management. According to Supervisory Board chairman Manfred Bischoff, Källenius has been fundamental in achieving the growth results of the “Mercedes-Benz 2020” strategy.

The now established trend towards consolidation on the part of major German real estate companies seems to be proceeding apace. Deutsche Annington Immobilien is out to buy up its rival GAGFAH for 3.9 thousand million Euros, Thomas Zinnöcker, CEO of GAGFAH would become vice chair of the management board of the new, enlarged Deutsche Annington, Rolf Busch would continue to be CEO. The two executives have known each other for years, and they seem to get on well together.

Two and a half years after resigning for reasons of health, Peter Bauer former CEO of Infineon Technologies is making a comeback to his old company. Together with Herbert Diess, the 54 year-old executive is seeking election to the Supervisory Board at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting on February 12. Supervisory Board Chair, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, points to Bauer’s “great expertise” and his “wealth of unique knowledge” of the market. Mayrhuber and the other five capital representatives are all standing for re-election. Diess resigned his post as head of development in BMW at the end of 2014, and will begin as head of the VW brand next October. Since the group has now a payroll of over 10,000, the number of Supervisory Board members will increase from 12 to 16 with effect from the next shareholders’ meeting.

The Supervisory Board of the KION group is in the throes of change. With effect from January 1, Birgit Behrendt, an executive with Ford, and Xu Ping, a lawyer, joined the monitoring body overseeing the forklift truck manufacturer. In a communiqué datelined Wiesbaden, December 22, the MDax listed company announced that Silke Schreiber (KKR) and Martin Hintze (Goldman Sachs) would resign in the wake of the reduced holding of Superlift Holding. Both had slowly cut back their holding in KION from 49 to 18.8 percent. The Chinese company Weichai Power can reach 33.3 percent. After the change, the Wiesbaden-based company, created by the demerger of the Linde group, will comprise three women and thirteen men. The chair of the Supervisory Board is held by former BASF executive John Feldmann.

The Supervisory Board of LEONI has appointed Dieter Bellé chairman of the management board . In a note of December 4, the supplier of material to the automobile industry announced that Bellé would take up the reins of his appointment after the next shareholders’ meeting scheduled for May 7. 54 year-old Bellé will continue as CFO and director of personnel. CEO Klaus Probst has announced his decision to resign, and will leave the management board immediately after the shareholders’ meeting, as announced by the MDax-listed group.

The new head of Linde, Wolfgang Büchele, has been seeking reinforcements for the management board. The major division that Aldo Belloni headed until his resignation for age reasons at the end of the year, has been carved up. The Supervisory Board has appointed Christina Bruch and Bernd Eulitz to the management board. Effective January 1, Bruch will take up the reins of plant construction and thus responsibility for the Engineering Division. Eulitz will respond to the management board for the EMEA gas business. Both executives have worked for the Munich-based group for over ten years. The chair of the Supervisory Board Manfred Schneider expressed his thanks to Belloni for his commitment since joining Linde in 1980 and when serving on the management board which he joined in 2000.

In a communiqué, METRO announced that the tribunal of Düsseldorf has appointed Gwyn Burr to succeed Lucy Neville-Rolfe who since her appointment during the Summer as Parliamentary Secretary of State to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for Innovation and Training in Britain was obliged to resign her seat on the Supervisory Board. The tribunal appointment expires on February 20 when the shareholders’ meeting will be called upon to decide on its ratification.

MTU Aero Engines Holding has announced that Stefan Weingartner has tendered his resignation, effective March 31. Consequently, the Supervisory Board has ruled to curtail the number of the management board to three. The Supervisory Board has expressed its regret that Weingartner has resigned.

After only a year and a half, and in accordance with the company, Barbara Stolz has tendered her resignation from the board of management of QSC. She will be succeeded by Stefan A. Baustert who, until last October, was CFO of machine tool manufacturer Rena, now in the throes of bankruptcy. Previously, Baustert had served a 7-year stint with Singulus Technologies, initially as CFO and later as chair of the board of management.

With effect from January 1, Martin Kinne will respond to the board of management of SMA Solartechnology for distribution and service. According to a communiqué of December 19, the two business areas are of “fundamental importance” for this leading manufacturer of solar invertors. In June 2014, the responsibility was transferred from MarkoWerner temporarily to Pierre-Pascal Urbon.

The news was made official on December 9, 2014. Herbert Diess has moved from BMW to Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, where he will guide the company’s “VW”-brand core business from October 2015. Last Spring, he was at the helm in Wolfsburg, when he succeeded in bringing in Andreas Renschler the Daimler board of management expert in commercial vehicles to tackle the job together of strengthening their alliance in the MAN and Scania brand of trucks and buses. Volkswagen is returning to separate management of the group’s main brands.

Villeroy & Boch: up through the ranks

After a few months of vacancy SDax-listed Villeroy & Boch AG has appointed its new management board CFO. Effective January 2015, Markus Warncke will head finance, tax, IT, purchasing, real estate and control at the ceramic manufacturer. Warnke has been with the company since 2001, initially in charge of internal auditing and M & A, and then finance and administration  the area of sanitary-wellness fittings and accessories. From 2007 onwards he was involved in company finance at senior group level, including a spell as company Director of Finance.

His predecessor Jörg Wahlers resigned from the company in Spring 2014 after three years as Chief Financial Officer. CEO Frank Göring held the position in a caretaker capacity.

Gigaset: New year, new CFO

The new year has also brought change to the management board of Prime Standard-listed Gigaset AG. The new CFO of the technology provider since 1 January is Kai Dorn who replaces Alexander Blum who left the company at the end of 2014. Contemporaneously, the Supervisory Board has extended the mandate of Charles Fränkl the chair of the management board, by two years, until March 2017. The management board contract with Maik Brockmann, however, will expire at its prescribed date of termination, in March 2015.

YOC: More chiefs

Mobile advertising provider YOC AG has augmented its board of management. In January, Michael Kruse became the second member of the Prime Standard company’s board, in support of founder and CEO Dirk Krause. Kruse’s task will be to foster the company’s core business in mobile advertising, and the strategic management of the company’s business in programmatics. Kruse was previously CEO of the former YOC subsidiary Belboon. According to YOC, Kruse has put together a wealth of experience in positions of leadership.

Leoni: from CFO to CEO

Dieter Bellé, Chief Financial Officer of the automotive component supplier Leonie AG will become company CEO in May 2015. Bellé, in his role as CFO, has been on the board of management of the MDax-listed Group since 2000. The current chair of the management board Klaus Probst has announced his willingness to stand down after almost 25 years service. He is expected to run for election to the Supervisory Board in 2017 after the mandatory cooling-off period.