Wolfgang Büchele: Linde AG CEO

Wolfgang Büchele was born in 1959 in Geislingen, Germany. He holds a degree in chemistry graduating from the University of Ulm, Germany in 1984. Wolfgang completed his doctorate in natural sciences  with special field in inorganic chemistry in 1987.

From 1984 until 1987 he was an assistant in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Ulm,Germany. 

Wolfgang began his career as a research chemist at BASF AG, Ludwigshafen in 1987. From 1990 onwards, he held various executive positions in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Hong Kong, China. In 2001 he was named President for Eastern Europe, Africa, West Asia Regional Division. Wolfgang became President of the Performance Chemicals Division in 2003. In 2005 he was appointed President of the Fine Chemicals Division. 

Wolfgang became a Project Advisor  at The Blackstone Group International Partners LLP, London, UK in 2008. Then from 2009 until 2011 he was member of the Board and CEO of BordsodChem Zrt., in Budapest, Hungary. From 2012 until 2014 he was the President and CEO of Kemira Oyj, Helsinki, Finland. 

With his and solid leadership experience in the chemicals industry it wasn’t a surprise when he was named CEO of Munich, Germany based Linde AG.

The Linde Group, registered as Linde AG was founded in 1879 by Carl von Linde in Germany. It is now a multinational industrial gases and engineering company. Linde AG is the world’s largest industrial gas company by market share and by revenue as well. The company’s shares are traded in all the German stock exchanges and in Zurich as well. The Linde share price is also included in the DAX 30 index. Aside from its Munich headquarters there is also some supporting headquarter functions in Surrey, England. 

The Linde Group has more than 600 affiliated companies in over 100 countries, with customers in the industrial, retail, trade, science, research, and public sectors. It registered revenue of €17.047 billion in 2014 on assets of €34.425 billion. 

Ulf Mark Schneider: Fresenius CEO

Ulf Mark Schneider who’s also known as Mark was born in 1965, in Germany.  Academic-wise Mark  has achieved what has basically has to be achieved, from the University of St Gallen, he earned a degree in finance and accounting and a PhD in economics. He also holds an MBA from Harvard. 

Mark began working for Franz Haniel & Cie in 1989. He held a number of senior executive positions then rose to the rank of Group Finance Director for the Coventry-based Gehe UK plc, a pharmaceutical wholesale and retail distributor which is part of the Haniel group, in 1995. 

In November 2001, Mark joined Fresenius as chief financial officer of the Fresenius Medical Care.  On May 28, 2003, less than two years, since joining he became the CEO of the entire group. Mark was the choice of no less than his predecessor Gerd Krick. He was 37 years of age at that time and a relative newcomer to the company. Many were surprised by the decision and Mark himself did not expect it. 

He hasn’t been a disappointment but on the contrary has increased the firm’s revenue and helped expand the company’s global presence. In the first five years of heading the company Mark was able raise sales by 50 percent to $14.5 billion and operating profit by 85 percent to $1.9 billion. In turn the price of share in the company quadrupled. 

He has expanded the firm to a significant extent through acquisition with the objective of strengthening all three of the firm’s major divisions with small and medium purchases. Mark knows the importance of acquiring small and medium companies. Yet he also does big acquisitions like in 2006 when he led the purchase of Renal Care Group Inc and Helios Kliniken GmbH for around $6 billion. Buying Helios Kliniken made Fresenius one of the top three hospital operators in Germany.

Fresenius is a global healthcare group offering high-quality products and services for dialysis, hospitals, and outpatients treatment. It has over 200,000 employees in over 100 countries and annual sales of over €20 billion. 

Timotheus Höttges: Deutsche Telekom CEO

Timotheus Höttges was born on September 18, 1962. Tim earned his degree in business administration at Cologne University, in Germany. He then worked for three years at management consulting firm, Mummert & Partner in Hamburg and later became a project manager.

Tim then joined the VIAG Group in Munich at the end of 1992. By 1997 he was a divisional manager. Later Tim became a member of the extended management board in charge of controlling, corporate planning and mergers and acquisitions. As project manager, he played an important part in the merger of VIAG AG and VEBA AG to form E.on AG, which came into being on September 27, 2000.

From 2000 until the end of 2004, Tim was Managing Director, Finance and Controlling, before eventually becoming Chairman of the Managing Board of T-Mobile Deutschland.  Starting 2005 until being appointed to the Group Board of Management, he led European operations as member of the Board of Management, T-Mobile International. Tim successfully executed a number of cost-cutting programs at T-Home and in the European mobile communications subsidiaries. Next he became responsible for the Group-wide Save for Service efficiency enhancement program.

Tim from 2006 to 2009 was a member of the Board of Management responsible for the T-Home unit. In this role, he led the fixed-network and broadband business, as well as integrated sales and service in Germany. During his watch, T-Home became the market leader in terms of new DSL customers and developed its Internet TV Service, Entertain, into a mass-market product while at the same time stabilizing its profitability.

He has been a member of the Group Board of Management responsible for Financing and Controlling beginning 2009 unit he was appointed CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG in January 2014.

The company that Tim leads is huge. Deutsche Telekom has around 143 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines, and over 17 million broadband lines.  The company is present in about 50 countries. It has around 230,000 employees worldwide and produced revenue of 60.1 billion Euros in fiscal year 2013. 

Thomas Enders: Airbus Group CEO

Dr. Thomas “Tom” Enders was born in December 1958, in Neuschlade, Germany.  Tom studied economics, political science, and history at the University of Bonn and at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He began his career as an assistant at the German Federal Parliament, and at a series of German and UK-based think tanks. Tom also serves as a Major in the Germany Army Reserve, and spent two years in the planning staff of the German defense ministry.

In 1991, Tom joined the marketing department of DiamlerChrysler Aerospace. He held a number of positions at DASA until he was promoted to head the defense and security systems business in the frame of the merger of EADS in 2000.  In 2005, Tom was appointed co-CEO until 2007 when the company modified its governance. As a result of the governance change, Tom was appointed CEO of Airbus, the largest division in the Group.  In June 1, 2012 he was appointed CEO of Airbus Group (formerly EADS).

Tom was the Chairman from 2005 to 2012 of BDLI, the German aerospace industry association. 

Dr. Johannes Teyssen: CEO E.ON

Dr. Johannes Teyssen was born on October 9, 1959 in Hildesheim, Germany.  He earned a degree in economics and law from Universität of Göttingen studying there from 1979 to 1984. He went to Boston University in Massachusetts, USA on doctorial studies scholarship in 1984.  Dr. Teyssen obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Göttingen in 1991.

He started his career at PreussentElekra AG in 1989 in Hanover, Germany.  Dr. Teyssen then moved to HASTRA AG from 1998 to 1999. He then became a Member of the Board of Management at AVACON AG in Helmstedt, Germany.  Dr. Teyssen joined E.ON Energie AG in 2001 in Munich, first as a Member of the Board of Management and from 2003-2007 as Chairman of the Board of Management.  From 2004 to 2008 he was a Member of the Board of Management of E.ON SE in Dusseldorf and eventually became the Chairman and CEO of E.ON SE on May 2010.

The company Dr. Teyssen leads is a major investor-owned energy supplier. It has over 62,000 employees throughout Russia, Europe, and North American and had €122.5 billion in sales in 2013.

Kurt Bock: BASF CEO

Kurt Bock is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. He was born in 1958 in Rahden, Eastern Westphalia, Germany. This is a small town with a population of 16,000 and where Kurt also grew up. Starting in 1977 he studied business administration at the Universities of Münster and Cologne and also at Pennsylvania State University in the United States. Kurt received his diploma from the University of Cologne in 1982. He then completed a three-year research stint at Bonn University and received a doctorate in economics in 1985 for the said university.

  

He joined BASF through the Finance Division in 1985 and became Staff to Chief Financial Officer in 1987. Kurt was promoted in 1991 to Head of Technology, Planning and Controlling in the Engineering Plastics Division.

Kurt made a major decision and left BASF in 1992 to become Senior Vice President of Finance at Robert Bosch GmbH. He also did well there becoming Managing Director at Robert Bosch Ltda., Campinas, Brazil. BASF though was able to get him back in 1998 as Chief Financial Officer of its North American division. Kurt became the President of BASF’s Logistics and Information Services in 2000.

In 2003 he became a member of the Board of Executive Directors and the firm’s Chief Financial Officer and also 2007 onwards Chairman and CEO of BASF Corporation, New Jersey, United States.

In 2011 Kurt became the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE. He is responsible for Legal, Taxes & Insurance, Strategic Planning & Controlling, Communications & Government Relations, Global Executive Human Resources, Investor Relations and Compliance.

BASF is a chemical company and it is interesting to note that Kurt does not have a chemical or science background and his strength is in finance. Yet at BASF only 50 percent of board members are required to have chemistry credentials. They probably realized that having all managers and senior executives with chemistry backgrounds may make the company too narrowly focused.

Kurt has proven himself to be a capable CEO producing profits for BASF, one of the world’s leading chemicals companies, when analysts had other opinions. 

Joe Kaeser: Siemens CEO

Joe Kaeser was born on June 23, 1957 in Arnbruck, Germany. Joe earned a degree in business administration from the Regensburg University of Applied Sciences. He then began his professional career joining the Components Group of Siemens in 1980.

Joe rose through the ranks of Siemens holding various management positions. Among them was a term at the Siemens Components Operations in Malacca, Malaysia from 1987 to 1988. He was named Vice President of business administration of the Opto Semiconductors Division in 1990.  Joe was promoted in 1994 to Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer aND later as CEO of the Group’s American subsidiary Siemens Components, based in Cupertino, California and also at Siemens Microelectronics, in nearby San Jose.

More promotions followed including the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Joe was eventually appointed as CEO of Siemens AG on August 1, 2013.

Siemens is a dominant global player in the industries it does businesses in. The firm groups its businesses in four sectors. These are: The Energy Sector, The Healthcare Sector, The Industry Sector, and the Infrastructure and Cities Sector. 

Nikolaus von Bombard: Munich Re CEO

Nikolaus von Bombard was born in 1956 in Gunzenhausen, Germany. He studied law at the universities of Munich and Regenburg, finishing with a doctorate degree.

Nikolaus then began his climb up the corporate ladder at Munich Re starting out in the graduate trainee program in 1985. Later he started working as an underwriter in the Operational Division: Fire/Treaty. Nikolaus was appointed Deputy Head of the Operational Division: Germany. 

In 1997 he took on the job of building up and managing the Munich Re office in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He was appointed to the Board of Management in 2000 and from 2001 was responsible for the Europe 2/Latin America Division. On January 2004 Nikolaus reached the top post being appointed Chairman of the Board of Management.

He has help guide of the one of the world’s largest reinsurer through difficult times and has pursued initiatives to help combat global warming.  One project that his has been involved with is in Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), a desert power scheme, which aims to produce enough electricity to meet 15 percent of the world’s energy requirements. 

Martin Winterkorn: VW CEO

You have to be pretty knowledgeable to run a huge company like Volkswagen.  Martin Winterkorn fits the bill. Before joining the company he already had impressive academic credentials.  Martin was born on May 24, 1947 in Leonberg, Germany. He studied metallurgy and metal physics at the University of Stuttgart from 1966 to 1973.  Martin received his doctorate in 1977 after having studied from 1973 to 1977 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research and Metal Physics.

He then began his career in 1977 joining the private sector as a specialist assistant in the research division “Process Engineering” at Robert Bosch GmbH. Martin headed the refrigerant compressor development group “Substance and Processes” at Robert Bosch GmbH and Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte GmbH.

By 1993 Martin was working as head of “Group Quality Assurance” at Volkswagen AG. In March 1994 he was appointed General Manager of Volkswagen AG with power of attorney. From June 1995 Martin was also additionally responsible for VW Group Product Management. He became Member of the Brand Board of Management for “Technical Development” for the Volkswagen brand. In July 2000, he became Member of the VW Group Board of Management for Technical Development.

Martin had a big hand with the introduction of the New Beetle. He was instrumental in getting then Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piëch to approve its production.

In March 2002 Martin became Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG. He was in charge of the Audi brand group; this included SEAT and Lamborghini, which was formed on January 2002. In his role as CEO of the Board of Management of Audi AG, Martin was also Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.

After having climbed the corporate ladder beginning in 1977, Martin became the CEO of Volkswagen AG in January 1, 2007.

The Volkswagen Group is popularly known as a car manufacturer but it also into truck production and other mobility related services. Brands under its belt include Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Scania, and Man. 

Carsten Spohr: Lufthansa Head

Carsten Spohr was born on December 16, 1966 in Wanne-Eickel, Germany. He earned a degree in industrial engineering at Karlsruhe University. He then qualified for a commercial airlines pilot’s license from the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen and Phoenix. Carsten subsequently completed a management training course at Deutsche Aerospace AG in Munich.  He holds a Lufthansa captain’s license for the aircraft of the Airbus A320 family.

He took over the personnel recruiting department of Lufthansa in October 1994. Carsten was a personal assistant to the CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa from 1995 to 1998. He then assumed responsibility in August 1998 for Lufthansa’s partnerships in Europe as Head of Regional Partner Management. Carsten became Vice President for Alliances & Cooperations in February 2000, with responsibility for managing and coordinating Lufthansa’s partners worldwide, including the Star Alliance and regional partners.

More promotions came along the way. He was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo in January 2007. In January 2011, Carsten became a Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines.

Carsten finally got the top position of CEO of Europe’s largest airline by volume, Deutsche Lufthansa AG on February 2014. He has the challenge task of continuing the restructuring plan initiated by his predecessor and finding innovative ways to deal with fierce competitors.

Dr. Rüdiger Grube: Transportation Expertise

Dr. Rüdiger Grube was born in Hamburg, Germany in August 2, 1951. His training and schooling has been very much focused in the world of transportation. Grube finished his commercial and technical training in metal aircraft construction and then earned a degree in automotive engineering and aircraft construction from the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. He taught at the University of Hamburg and later gained his doctorate in the areas of industrial science and polytechnology at the Universities of Hamburg and Kasselin 1986.  Grube then joined a company that would later become Daimler-Benz Aerospace.

Grube went on to become the Chairman and CEO of Duetsche Bahn AG and DB Mobility Logistics AG in May 2009. He was elected to these positions after having served in a number of executive, supervisory and administrative board positions with Daimler, EADS, MTU Friedrichshafen, Hyundai Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.

Deutsche Bahn Group provides global mobility and logistical services operating in more than 130 countries all over the world. It has around 300,000 employees with over half in Germany. The firm is involved in rail, road, ocean and air traffic networks.  DB Group registered revenues of around €39.3 billion in 2012.

Given his expertise in transportation and by extension logistics, Grube has been able to lead GB Group with a steady and experienced hand.

Anshu Jain: Challenges

Anshu Jain was born in Jaipur, India, the son of a civil servant. He earned an economics degree at Sri Ram College of Commerce at Delhi University and obtained an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1985.  He is now the co-CEO of Deutsche Bank the biggest lender in Germany and the largest continental bank in Europe in terms of total assets.

What is interesting about Anshu is he is an Indian national holding a British passport and speaks very little German. Given his hectic schedule there’s very little time for him to learn the language but he has been trying his best and even gave a two page introductory speech during the 2013 annual stockholder’s meeting in German.  

The world has become more international but having a non- Germany speaking co-head has made some people uneasy, especially when banking is all about trust. He got to this position by helping Deutsche Bank become one of the largest investment banks in the world when he joined the company in 1995.

 Yet it is also this side of the bank which as caused many problems including criminal investigations and charges against employees. Jain himself has not been accused of any wrongdoings. He has worked out of London, does not speak much German and has sold products like sophisticated derivatives that few people totally understand and view with suspicion.

Despite these challenges Jain along with co-CEO Juergen Fitschen who is a native German are working to shore up the bank’s capital and cut costs including laying off thousands of workers. Jain understands his job and challenges simply have to be overcome.

Challenging Times For Olaf Koch

Olaf Koch is CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG. This company is considered to be the fifth-largest retailer in the world by revenue; it’s behind Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco and Kroger. It is one of the big boys in the retail and wholesale business. The group is based in Düsseldorf, Germany and has the largest market share in that country. METRO AG is of the most internationalized wholesale and retail corporations.

Koch is thus heading a very large publicly traded company and interestingly his early career path had nothing to do with store retailing. Born on June 1, 1970 in Bad Soden am Taunus, he is a graduate of business management from the University of Cooperative Education Stuttgart. 

Koch’s career had basically been in the auto industry.  Starting in 1994 he was Manager for Finance Processing and Systems at Daimler Benz AG. In January 1996 he founded and was the CEO of IT-Networks GmbH until July 1998. Then it was back with DaimlerChrysler AG where he was Senior Manager at the Corporate War Room from July 1998 to November 1999. Koch went on to hold other higher positions including Vice President, Corporate e-Business and Member of the Board of Management Mercedes Car Group responsible for Finance, Controlling and Strategy.

He left DaimlerChrysler AG in August 2007 and then joined private equity group Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH as Managing Director of Operations from October 2007 to September 2009. Then the auto industry executive with strengths in IT and finance joined retail giant METRO AG in September 2009 as Member of the Management Board and CFO.

Since becoming CEO Koch has vowed to change the top-down corporate culture at METRO. He wants more open, bold and controversial discussions taking place. This hasn’t been easy given the recent performance of the company which showed profits dropping. Heads of top ranking executive have rolled with five having been asked to leave.

Experts say Koch’ senior team now does not have long experience on retail. He is continuing to stream line and centralize operations to cut cost and grow the company.  These are challenging times for Koch. Given that he came from a different background perhaps the company’s board did really want change. As for Koch he knows very well that he wasn’t given the top post just so he could enjoy smelling the flowers.

The First Outsider

Most companies put insiders at the top post. It serves as an inspiration for the lower ranks who also aspire for the top position. An insider also knows the company already so there is no lag time required to get to know the company better.  In the case of German company giant Siemens AG it hired an outsider to lead the company for the first time in its 160 year history.

The reason why Austrian born Peter Löscher was chosen to become the Chief Executive Officer of Siemens in May 2007 was because the company was reeling from a global bribery investigation. In this case it would be best put a new face that was not connected with the company’s past.  The company eventually had to pay $1.6 billion in fines.

Yet the move to hire Peter was not merely symbolic he went to work to improve the company image and more importantly to improve how the company functioned. As he wrote in an article within months of his taking over the company replaced 80 percent of the top level executives, 70 percent of the next level down and 40 percent of the level below that.  He also implemented some streamlining to improve efficiency.

Prior to his job as the CEO of Siemens AG, Peter held high level positions including as CEO of other large companies.  This time the outsider proved the best choice.

Making Up For Lost Time

Michael Diekmann was born on December 23, 1953 in Bielefeld, German.  He earned his degree from Goettingen University studying law and philosophy.

Right out of university he established his own publishing business, Diekmann/Thieme in 1983. This company fit into the lifestyle he liked.  It produced travel guides and adventure books.  This meant that he was also out in the field travelling and doing outdoor adventures and writing about it.

By his own account he was making a living having published a number of books.  In 1988 he was frustrated with having to compete with the big publishing houses. It was also around that time that his wife told him to get a real job and handed him an ad for a job at Allianz in Hamburg.  He went for the interview and got the job in the insurance sales department at Allianz.

You could say he was a late starter in the corporate field since this was his first serious job and he was already 33 years old. Michael certainly made up for lost time.  Fifteen years into the job he wound up being the group chairman in 2003.  This was no easy achievement he was now leading the world’s biggest general insurer, the second-largest asset management company, and the third-biggest life insurer.

Many were surprised he got the top job.  He record though showed that he was the right man for the top post.  In several new positions he held he was faced with daunting work challenges which he overcame and made his business unit prosper.   When he headed Alliance’s Asia-Pacific Operations he supervised key acquisitions as well as led the operations through the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. He turned a failing division into a profitable one.

Michael was sent to America in 2000 and he had to manage around the “de-pegging” of Argentina and the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks. He was able to save the underperforming US Fireman’s Fund. He did this by aggressively cutting cost involving laying off thousands of employees.

When he took over Allainz in 2003 it was in deep trouble due to its $22.5 billion acquisition of Dresdner Bank in 2001.  Again he resorted to cost cutting ad workforce shrinkage and raised capital. Within 12 months of being the new CEO he returned Allainz to financial health.

An Engineer At The Helm

Managing a large company requires a great amount of skill and talent. Surprisingly a good number of companies are not run by people who are direct experts in the field.  Take the case of a major airline company whose head is not a pilot but a lawyer.  It doesn’t mean that the company would be better run if a pilot was in charge. It just goes to show that managing a company is different from flying an airplane.

Daimler AG, the Germany multinational automotive company is actually led be someone who has been schooled and trained as an engineer; no lawyer is heading this company.  Dr. Dieter Zetsche is the chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG as well as head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

He graduated as an engineer having studied electrical engineering from 1971 to 1976 at the University of Karlshruhe. Zetsche then joined the research department of Daimler-Benz AG in 1976. He did well and became assistant to the Development Manager in the Commercial Vehicles business until 1981.

Zetsche furthered his academic studies and finished a doctorate in engineering at the University of Paderborn in 1982.  Over the years he received promotions and did overseas assignments.  He was at one time the CEO and president of Chrysler Group.  Dr. Zetsche has been a member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG since December 16, 1998 and chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG since January 2006.

It is of advantage to Daimler that its current head truly understands the dynamics of the company and how a car is put together.