Industrial Executive & Board Moves | Q3 2023

Industrial Executive Moves

Adecco

• Caroline Basyn has been appointed as Chief Digital and IT Officer and will join the Group on August 28, 2023. She is a seasoned international business and technology executive, with over 30 years’ leadership experience in digital transformation and leveraging technology innovations.

Also

• Andreas Kuhn will be start as the new CFO for the company, effective October 1, 2023. Andreas has been with ALSO for almost 12 years and is familiar with monitoring and controlling the company's performance. Anja Steiner will serve as the deputy CFO.

• The previous CFO, Ralf Retzko, will be leaving the company by mutual agreement but will remain closely associated as a consultant beyond the 2023 financial year.

APG SGA

• Board of Directors has appointed Nico Müller as the new CFO of APG|SGA and Member of the Management Board. The renowned finance expert has extensive experience in various leadership roles in the financial sector, most recently as Head of Group Finance at Acino since 2021. Müller will take up his new role on 1 March 2024 and will succeed Beat Hermann.

Bachem

• With immediate effect, CEO Thomas Meier will also assume the duties of Chief Operations Officer. Meanwhile, the previous COO, Roland Schürmann, is stepping down from the Group Executive Board and assume the newly created position of Head of Operational Excellence.

Barry Callebaut 

• Barry Callebaut named Peter Vanneste as new CFO, he will take on this role on November 1. The current CFO Ben De Schryver will assume responsibility for the North America regional division as regional president.

• Jutta Suchanek will be joining the company on October 1 as the Chief People & Diversity Officer along with Clemens Woehrle who will be joining the company as its Chief Customer Supply & Development Officer on the same day.

• Masha Vis-Mertens has left as CHRO to pursue new professional activities.

BKW

• The company will be changing its organizational structure effective 1 November 2023. The heads of the three service divisions – Antonin Guez, CEO of BKW Building Solutions, Martin Fecke, CEO of BKW Engineering and Sven Behrend, CEO of BKW Infra Services – will be appointed to the Group Executive Board.

• Stefan Sewckow will take over the management of the new business unit, Energy Markets from 1st of November. Stefan is an industrial engineer who brings extensive experience in the international energy industry, and since 2017 he has served as Managing Director Market of MVV Trading, part of the MVV Energy company.

• Current Head of Energy Markets & Group Services, Corinne Montandon, will take over the management of BKW Power Grids. She replaces Roland Küpfer, who is retiring.

Coltene

• The Board has appointed, Belimed CEO, Dominik Arnold to become the new CEO of the Group as of 1 January 2024. Dominik succeeds Martin Schaufelberger who will step down from operations at the end of the year and stay at the company as a Member of the Board.

Competec

• Due to differing views on the priorities and future strategic direction of the group of companies, the Board of Directors and CEO Martin Lorenz have agreed to part ways in June of 2024. Martin joined the Group in 2008 as CFO and took over the CEO role in 2018.

Conforama

• Starting on August 1, 2023, Jérôme Gilg will assume the role of CEO at Conforama Switzerland, a subsidiary of XXXLutz. Prior to this, Gilg served as the CEO of Manor, the largest department store group in Switzerland, a position he held since 2019.

Dormakaba

• Steve Bewick, currently President Region Europe & Africa, will become Chief Commercial Officer.

• Alex Housten, currently President Region Americas, will become Chief Operations Officer.

• In addition, Magín Guardiola started the role of Chief Innovation Officer as of July 1, 2023.

• Andreas Häberli, currently Chief Technology Officer, Alwin Berninger, currently Chief Marketing & Products Officer, Mathias Mörtl, currently Chief Operations Officer, and Andy Jones, currently President Asia Pacific, will leave dormakaba to pursue new opportunities.

DSM-Firmenich

• Ralf Schmeitz has been named CFO as of September 2023. He initially joined the company in 2006 under its previous identity DSM, and his path has been marked by outstanding achievements and a track record of strong performance. Ralf has played a pivotal role in propelling the transformation of the Finance function and in navigating substantial portfolio changes.

Feintool

• CFO Samuel Künzli will leave the company at the end of March 2024. After three years as CFO, he will join the medical technology company Ypsomed as their new CFO as of April 2024.

Galencia

• Marianne Ellenberger, Head of Human Resources since 2021, has decided to pass on the HR leadership to Arianne Hasler, who will become Head of People & Culture and a member of the Executive Committee of the Group. Marianne will take on a new role as Head of Strategic Projects HR at Galencia.

• As part of early succession planning, Iris Müller will join the Group in January 2024 and take over as Head of Corporate Communications following the publication of the annual results in March. Christina Hertig, who has been responsible for communications at Galenica since 2006, has decided to take early retirement in 2024 after this long and very intensive period.

Hager Group

• Hager Group welcomes Sabine Busse as new Chief Executive Officer succeeding long-time CEO Daniel Hager. Sabine Busse jointly leads the company with Daniel Hager for three months.

Huber+Suhner

• Ivo Wechsler will step down from his position as CFO of Huber+Suhner and will be proposed for election to the Board of Directors at the annual GM of St. Galler Kantonal Bank.

Holcim

• Holcim has appointed Nollaig Forrest as its Chief Sustainability Officer with effect from 1 September 2023. She succeeds Magali Anderson in the post, who has decided to pursue new career opportunities as a board member and supporter of non-government organisations. Forrest is currently working as the Group Head of Corporate Affairs at Holcim, in charge of Investor Relations, Group Communications, Public Affairs & Branding.

Hälg Group

• The owners of Hälg Group, brothers, Marcel and Roger Baumer, are stepping down from their operational positions and focusing on their strategic tasks as members of the Board of Directors, under the chairmanship of Matthias Schmid and the Executive Board.

• Sandro Keller will join as the CEO of the company’s largest division, Building Technology as of December 1, 2023.  Keller has many years of management experience in the construction industry thanks to various positions at a well-known national construction service provider.

• Additionally, Central Services will continue to be headed by CFO Bruno Bollhalder, while Facility Management will be headed by Markus Haldimann.

IKEA

• IKEA appoints Janie Bisset as CEO and CSO of IKEA Switzerland, succeeding Jessica Anderen, effective 1st of October 2023. Bisset has been with IKEA for over 20 years, most recently as Market Area Manager responsible for all IKEA stores in Western Canada. Until she takes up her position, Marco Ruina will continue to lead the company as CEO and CSO as interim.

Kongsberg Automotive

• Joerg Buchheim has left a role as President/CEO. The Board of Directors has appointed Linda Nyquist-Evenrud as interim President & Chief Executive Officer effective July 25, 2023. Linda brings more than 19 years of experience in the automotive industry.

• Kongsberg Automotive has appointed Oscar Jaeger as Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President, People & Culture, effective August 1, 2023.

Intershop

• Intershop has found a successor for the retiring long-time CFO Thomas Kaul. Florian Balschun is to join the real estate group on January 1, 2024 and take over Kaul's business unit after the AGM in 2024. This completes Intershop's top management again. On July 1, 2023, Simon Haus took over as CEO of the company. His predecessor Cyrill Schneuwly had already announced his resignation at the end of December 2022.

Lonza

• Chief Executive Pierre-Alain Ruffieux will leave the company, and Chairman Albert Baehny will step in as interim CEO until a permanent successor is appointed. Ruffieux will leave the company at the end of September by mutual agreement, having been in the role since November 2020.

Nestlé

• After nine years as CEO of Nestlé Health Science, Greg Behar will leave Nestlé as of December 31, 2023, to pursue new professional interests outside the company. The Board has appointed Anna Mohl, currently Head of International Business at Nestlé Health Science, as CEO of Nestlé Health Science and as Executive Vice President effective January 1, 2024.

Nokera

• NOKERA acquires the R+S Group and expands its leading market position to further advance the energy transition in the building sector. Ralph Burkhardt becomes the new CEO of Nokera.

Novartis

• Marie-France Tschudin, President, Innovative Medicines International and CCO, has decided to leave the company, effective September 15, after nearly 7 years at Novartis. Patrick Horber, currently SVP and President, Immunology at AbbVie has been appointed as President International and become a Member of the Executive Committee effective later this year. Mukul Mehta, CFO, International, will lead the unit ad-interim until Horber assumes the role.

Polypeptide

• Marc Augustin has been appointed as the new CFO of Polypeptide, he will take over responsibilities of Lalit Ahluwalia who held the position on an interim basis. Marc has a strong background in a high-growth CDMO environment as well as with deep finance and operational experience.

Richemont

• Swen Grundmann will join the Senior Executive Committee in his new capacity as Director of Corporate Affairs in addition to maintaining his role as Group Company Secretary.

• Boet Brinkgreve was appointed to the newly created role of CEO of Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté on 1 September 2023.

Rieter

• Kurt Ledermann, the former CFO at the Rieter Group since 2019, is to leave the Group Executive Committee in August 2023 for personal reasons to pursue a career opportunity outside the Rieter Group. The Board of Directors appointed Oliver Streuli as Chief Financial Officer, effective August 1, 2023.

Ruag MRO

• CEO Brigitte Beck resigns after controversial statements about neutrality policy. She ran the company for less than a year.

SBB

• Beatrice Bichsel started as Head of SBB Real Estate in 01.09.2023 and thus a member of the Group Executive Board. In this position, she succeeds Alexander Muhm, who took over as head of SBB Freight Transport at the end of June 2023.

Schweiter Technologies

• The Board of Directors of Schweiter Technologies has appointed Urs Scheidegger as the new CFO of the Group and a member of the Executive Board. The 54-year-old Swiss is currently Chief Risk Officer of Schindler Holding. As of September 1, 2023, he will succeed Martin Klöti, who will leave the Group at the end of September 2023.

SFS

• Head of the Construction Division, Arther Blank will take over the responsibilities of CHRO Susanne Jung, who is leaving the group. During this period, Blank will hand over management of the Construction Division as part of the succession plan to Thomas Jung.

SGS

• Effective December 1, 2023, Géraldine Picaud will join SGS as Group Chief Financial Officer and member of the Operations Council. She will replace Dominik de Daniel who has decided to step down to pursue other career opportunities. Dominik will remain with us until the end of January 2024 to ensure a smooth transition.

SIG

• The appointment of Ann-Kristin Erkens to the Group Executive Board as Chief Financial Officer has been made, effective 1 November 2023. Ann-Kristin joins from Henkel, a DAX-40 company, where she most recently served as Corporate Senior Vice President and Financial Director for the Adhesives Technologies business.

Sika

• Raffaella Marzi, currently Head Human Resources & Compliance, will additionally act as Head Legal. She takes over from Stefan Mösli, who has decided to step down after successfully heading the department since 1996. Raffaella joined Sika 9 years ago and has been a member of Group Management since 2020.

• Christoph Ganz, currently Regional Manager Americas, will be appointed Regional Head EMEA. He joined the company 27 years ago and has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2007. Previously, he worked in Switzerland, France and the USA.

• Mike Campion, currently Regional Manager Asia/Pacific, will be appointed Regional Manager Americas. He joined Sika 25 years ago and has been a member of the Group Executive Board since 2017. He has worked in the U.S. and Asia Pacific.

• Philippe Jost, currently Head of Construction, is appointed Regional Manager Asia/Pacific. He joined the company 26 years ago and has been a member of the Group Executive Committee since 2019. Prior to that, he held various management positions in the USA and Switzerland.

• Ivo Schädler, currently Regional Manager EMEA, is appointed Head of Construction. He joined Sika 26 years ago and has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2017. Prior to that, he held senior positions in Switzerland and the UK.

Straumann

• Yang Xu has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Management Board. Yang Xu will join the Straumann Group on August 21, 2023, to officially succeed Peter Hackel. Yang joins from The Kraft Heinz Company, where she was SVP, Head of Corporate Development and Global Treasurer, bringing over 20 years of experience in finance, strategy, operational and commercial functions. Interim CFO Marc-Alain Weder will subsequently leave his role.

Sunrise

• Severina Pascu is to step down as Deputy CEO and Chief Consumer Officer of the Swiss telco Sunrise, though she’ll stay on as an executive advisor for a further six months and work alongside Liberty Global CEO, Mike Fries, to address new challenges and opportunities.

• Christoph Richartz and Stefan Fuchs will succeed her as Chief Consumer Officer of Sunrise Brand and Chief Consumer Officer of Flanker Brands, respectively.

Swissport

• Guillaume Halleux is Swissport's new Chief Commercial Officer. He took up his position on 18 September. The manager joins from Qatar Airways, where he has been Chief Officer Cargo from Doha for the past six years. Halleux now occupies a position in the top management of the world's largest service provider for airlines and airports in Zurich, for which Andres Diez was previously responsible without holding the title CCO.

VAT

• The Board of Directors of VAT has appointed Urs Gantner, currently EVP of VAT's Semiconductor Solutions Group, as the new Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2024.

V-ZUG

• Stephan Keller has left a role as Senior VP/Chief Technology Officer at V-ZUG.

Weleda

• Former Douglas CEO Tina Müller has been appointed as CEO, following the departure of Ralph Heinisch, and will take office on October 1, 2023. She will be the first woman to lead Weleda as CEO since its inception.

Contact

Dominik Brülisauer
Russell Reynolds Associates
Stampfenbachstrasse 5 | 8001 Zurich | Switzerland
Direct: +41-44-447-30-46
Mobile: +41-79-549-80-28
dominik.bruelisauer@russellreynolds.com