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Aareal Bank terminated its contract with Wolf Schumacher on September 17 and with immediate effect replaced him with Hermann Merkens, previously CFO. From its headquarters in Wiesbaden, the real estate finance company announced that the former CEO is leaving after 10 years service on the executive board and on “agreed terms”. Schumacher’s contract was due to expire at the end of March 2018.
In an announcement dated September 3, Commerzbank stated that “with deep regret” the Supervisory Board had been informed of Stefan Schmittmann’s intention to bring forward termination of his contract from October 2016 to year’s end 2015. The Supervisory Board will appoint his successor in due course. Schmittmann stated that with new regulations being introduced “it makes more sense that the new risk manager be in charge of the process from the outset”.
A communiqué issued by Deutsche Bank on September 14 stated that its Supervisory Board had nominated Richard Meddings for election to join it. Presently a non-executive director in the Treasury of the United Kingdom, Meddings will take the place of John Cryan whose seat has been vacant since his appointment to chair of the executive board. According to the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code, Meddings has to be nominated by the court and then stand for election at the next AGM.
On September 11 Drägerwerk announced that at a meeting of the Supervisory Board Reiner Piske had been appointed head of Human Resources with effect from November 1. Born in Hoyerswerda in 1970, Piske studied management engineering in Karlsruhe and Berlin. He is presently head of Human Resources in Groz-Beckert. With this appointment, the manufacturer and distributor of medical and security technology raises the number of its executive board members to five.
At a meeting on September 9, the Supervisory Board chaired by Andreas Renschler of Munich-based MAN, appointed Joachim Drees new company CEO with effect from October 1. Former CEO Georg Pachta-Reyhofen resigned after a restructuring of the executive board at the end of September.
Hans Dieter Pötsch is expected to succeed Ferdinand Piech as head of VOLKSWAGEN. The current CFO should be elected to the Supervisory Board in place of Julia Kuhn-Piech at an extraordinary shareholders meeting. As ways are sought to continue somehow to draw from the technical expertise of the niece of VW’s former patriarch, Piech’s other niece, Louise Kiesling, will stand for election. The frontrunner for the post of CFO seems to be Audi CEO, Rupert Stadler but so far no decision has been made because other considerations apart there is more than one candidate. Martin Winterkorn resigned from the post of CEO because of the uproar surrounding the alleged falsification of exhaust gas emission figures of diesel powered vehicles. Currently the group is headed by former Porsche boss, Matthias Müller.
Rational: a new face in finance
Erich Baumgärtner presently CFO of Rational AG the household appliance manufacturer is quitting the company’s executive board at the end of the year. After 17 years as head of the SDax-listed company’s financial affairs Baumgärtner will maintain ties with the company as a consultant. His boardroom seat will be taken by Axel Kaufmann, latterly CFO with Koenig & Bauer AG. Previously he had occupied a managerial position with Siemens and Nokia Networks gaining a wealth of experience in finance and strategy. Kaufmann will begin in October and take up Baumgärtner’s tasks in stages.
Steilmann: new team
While still in the process of becoming a European joint stock company (SE), the Steilmann fashion group acquired a new CFO. The new executive board member in charge of finance is Jens Brüggemann, previously head comptroller in Steilmann since 2001. Initially he was financial director of the Italian group Radici which later bought over Steilmann. Up to now, the financial sector came under the leadership of Paola Viscardi-Giazzi who has been appointed COO, while Michele Puller continues as CEO. Steilmann is still planning a stock market flotation this year and has already issued an SME bond with a volume of some 30 million Euros that matures in 2017.
NordwestHandel: Officially CFO
General Standard listed Nordwest Handel AG, has appointed a new CFO. From now on, the company’s financial division will be officially headed by Jörg Simon. Simon has been in charge of finance under a pro tempore contract since July when former CFO Annegret Franzen was dismissed because of allegations of illicit competition. Previously, Simon was head of the finance business unit. He will work in tandem with CEO Bernhard Dressler who was appointed CEO last February.