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Dr. Gerhard Cromme (70) declared he would step down as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp AG effective 31 March 2013. Concurrently he has requested the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation to revoke his delegation onto the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp, also effective 31 March 2013 - he would also vacate his functions at the 25% anchor shareholder of ThyssenKrupp on the same date. The Foundation’s right of secondment to the company’s supervisory board was fought vigorously in a motion for a resolution at the 2007 Annual General Meeting by VIP, rallying 24.9% of the AGM votes behind it. Gerhard Cromme is to be thanked for getting the issue of German Corporate Governance discussed even beyond the borders.
The fact that the company’s Supervisory Board announced no successor at this time shows that the real leadership does not come from the institutions of the company.
With immediate effect, Holger Jürgensen and Karl-Hermann Kuklies have resigned from their positions, AIXTRON announced on 30 January. Reasons were not given. For personal reasons and by mutual agreement, Paul Hyland also left the semiconductor specialist, on 28 February. On 18 February the Supervisory Board had appointed Martin Goetzeler as his successor; he began work on 1 March.
Andrea Jung is to be elected as shareholder representative on the Supervisory Board at the Annual General Meeting of Daimler on 10 April in Berlin. If appointed, the former Avon boss would be the third woman on the car manufacturer’s top body. Born in 1958, she has since 2008 been an Apple board member, and on the General Electric board since 1998. She is to follow Lynton R. Wilson, who will retire from the Supervisory Board on age grounds.
E.ON has headhunted Leonhard Birnbaum from RWE. The former Chief Strategy Officer of the Essen competitors is to succeed Klaus-Dieter Maubach, whose departure had been speculated about for some time. Moreover, Regine Stachelhaus also plans to give up her post. The first woman on the Board of the Düsseldorf energy group announced her departure for midyear. Mike Winkel is to take over her duties.
Denis Ranque could chair the Administrative Board at European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). The Nominating Committee of the European aerospace and defence group has recommended the ex Thales chief for the post, it was said in Paris. The government in Berlin is said to basically agree with the name. The French government had recently sent strong signals it would prefer to see Anne Lauvergeon at the top. The following persons have been proposed for election to the future eleven-member Board of Directors by the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Group on 27 March: Thomas Enders, Anne Lauvergeon, Manfred Bischoff, Hans-Peter Keitel, and Ralph D. Crosby. Also proposed are Michel Pébéreau, Lakshmi N. Mittal, John Parker, Hermann-Josef Lamberti and Josep Piqué i Camps.
In October 2014 Gerhard Weber will let his executive contract expire and move directly to the Supervisory Board of Gerry Weber International, the company announced on 27 February. A “cooling-off period”, as now legally required for listed companies, does not come into question for the 71-year-old co-founder, eponym and for 40 years chairman, because of age alone. Arnd Buchardt is to rise to the fashion group’s board. The former managing director of the core brand Gerry Weber will be appointed to the Board, along with Ralf Weber, on 1 August. Doris Strätker, to date in charge of design and marketing, did not extend her contract, which expires in July, for personal reasons.
For Manfred Wennemer and Christine Wolff, leavng at the end of December 2012 and the end of January respectively, Michael Frenzel and Jan Martin Wicke will now move to the Supervisory Board of HOCHTIEF. A request by the Board of the construction company to that effect has been filed with the Essen district court. Both . appointments are to be confirmed by election at the AGM on 7 May. Frenzel was from January 1994 to February 2013 Chairman of the Board of TUI. Under his leadership, the former Preussag became the leading tour company in Europe. At TUI, Frenzel gathered shareholders and board members from the Spanish hotel and real-estate industry - the majority shareholder of HOCHTIEF is the Spanish construction company ACS, after a 2010/2011 takeover battle. Wennemer had led the Supervisory Board of the construction giant for one and a half years. He had vacated his post in the wake of the new CEO appointment in late 2012. Wolff had been on the Supervisory Board only since July 2012.
Frank Lutz has agreed with the Supervisory Board about the consensual cancellation of his contract with immediate effect, MAN announced on 18 February. The manager was previously Chief Financial Officer for the Group. Lutz obviously did not want to wait for the control and profit transfer agreement by the Volkswagen group to enter into force. His responsibilities will be taken over by Pachta-Reyhofen.
In the second quarter Pieter Haas will move from Media-Saturn Holding (MSH) to METRO and there take charge of the newly created “Media-Saturn & Business Innovation” department, said the trade group. The focus will be placed on the further expansion of multi-channel distribution. With this headhunting METRO was depriving MSH of operational know-how and weakening the company, said co-partner Kellerhals.
Leonhard Birnbaum is to leave RWE at the end of September and switch to E.ON. The 46-year-old had waived the offered renewal of his contract. RWE announced on 26 February that Birnbaum’s post would not be reoccupied. Its tasks are to be distributed to the remaining four board departments and the Board, given the austerity measures throughout the Group, permanently reduced to four members. Moreover, there are to be two personnel changes in the energy group’s Supervisory Board. Hans-Peter Keitel and Werner Brandt are to replace Carl-Ludwig von Boehm-Bezing and Paul Achleitner, who are resigning their positions with effect from 18 April. Former Deutsche Bank Board member Boehm-Bezing has belonged to the supervisory board since 1997, Achleitner since 2000.
Susanne Klatten will succeed Max Dietrich Kley in the chair of the SGL Carbon Supervisory Board following the Annual Meeting at the end of April. The Quandt heiress is already deputy head of the carbon fibre manufacturer’s supervisory board. She is also a major shareholder, holding about 28 per cent of SGL through Skion. Because Kley is leaving the post for reasons of age, there has been speculation for some time about who would head the body in the future.
The red-green government change in Lower Saxony has also led to a shake-up in the two posts at Volkswagen the state is entitled to. Thus, Stephan Weil and Olaf Lies will take the two freed up by David McAllister and Jörg Bode. The Cabinet agreed to their appointment on 19 February at its first session, the State Chancellery announced. That the state should exercise an important influence at Wolfsburg is entirely uncontroversial in Lower Saxony across all party lines. The state of Lower Saxony, which owns just under 20 per cent of VW shares, holds two seats on the supervisory board. It is among the largest shareholders of the company, alongside the Porsche and Piëch families and the emirate of Qatar, which is also represented by two members of the supervisory body.
Sunways: from three to two
The General Standard listed solar manufacturer Sunways has reduced its board from three members to two. Jörg von Strom, responsible for purchasing, production and supply chain, resigned from his Board post. As a senior manager, he retains his existing responsibilities within the Company. Still on the Board are Chief Executive Officer Mario Zen and marketing and sales officer Jürgen Frei.
Bechtle: continuation of the success formula
At TecDax value Bechtle everything is running smoothly. The IT service provider from Neckarsulm in late January presented a strong balance-sheet for the fourth quarter of 2012. Shortly thereafter, the Company extended the contract of CEO Thomas Olemotz until 2017. He has been guiding the fortunes of the company since 2008.
Aixtron: ups and downs in the boardroom
In January two Supervisory Board members resigned at TecDax company Aixtron; now CEO Paul Hyland has also resigned "by mutual agreement". His successor since March is Martin Goetzeler, who at the beginning of 2012 was still responsible as top manager for daily operations at Siemens subsidiary Osram. As a chip equipment manufacturer, Aixtron mainly supplies the LED industry, and Goetzeler is considered an expert in the LED and lighting business. He should lead the beleaguered SME back on track.