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Industrial Executive & Board Moves | Q4 2023

Industrial Board Moves

Alpiq

  • Two new Members were elected to the Board of Directors at the AGM on December 19. Adèle Thorens Goumaz, who has served as a member of both the National Council and the Council of States for the Green Party of Switzerland, and François Gabella, an experienced managing director of electrical and measurement technology companies and currently Vice-President of Swissmem. They succeed Jean-Yves Pidoux and Aline Isoz. The two new members will take office on 1 January 2024.

Amcor

  • Armin Meyer will retire from the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting. Meyer has been a committed and active member of the Amcor board over many years, serving as Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Compensation Committee and the Executive Committee.

  • As of November 2023, Lucrèce Foufopoulos-De Ridder, has joined Amcor as a Non-Executive Director. Lucrèce has a distinguished career of more than 20 years in the chemical and petrochemical industry, most recently as EVP, polyolefins and circular economy solutions and innovation and technology for Borealis.

Artemis

  • Jennifer Maag, an M&A expert with extensive industry know-how, has been appointed as the new Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Artemis. The change follows the resignation of Benoît D. Ludwig, who is retiring after 13-year term of office.

Aryzta

  • The Board of Directors of Aryzta has appointed Heiner Kamps as Lead Independent Director. He succeeds Jörg Riboni, who will not stand for re-election in the spring of 2024.

  • Following the resignation of Riboni, Gordon Hardie will now also withdraw from the board with immediate effect. A successor for Hardie has yet to be named.

ASM International

  • ASM nominated Tania Micki to Supervisory Board. The nomination follows the previously announced resignation of Supervisory Board member Monica de Virgiliis per May 2024. Tania brings more than 20 years of experience in finance leadership roles with international innovative companies. She is currently (since 2020) CFO and member of the Management Board of Tecan.

Axpo

  • After seven years, Hanspeter Fässler is withdrawing from his roles as a member and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Axpo. The Board will propose to the General Meeting on 19 January 2024 that Samuel Leupold be elected as a replacement Board Member.

Baloise

  • Claudia Dill has stepped down from the Company’s Board of Directors on 31 October 2023 in order to take on an operational role on the Executive Committee of a reinsurer.

  • Board Member, Hugo Lasat will not stand for re-election after eight years and plans to focus solely on his work as the Group CEO of Degroof Petercam. The Board will propose Guido Fürer for election to the Board of Directors at the AGM in April 2024. Fürer will add his considerable experience in the insurance industry and in asset management to the Board of Directors.

Barry Callebaut

  • Angela Wei Dong and Elio Leoni Sceti will not stand for re-election at the Annual General Meeting on 6 December.

  • Mauricio Graber is to join the Supervisory Board. He had served as President of the Flavors Division at Givaudan for twelve years. In 2018, he took over the CEO position at Chr. Hansen. He is now expected to step down after the completion of the planned merger with Novozymes in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.

Cablex

  • Stefan Nünlist has started as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Swisscom subsidiary Cablex.

Chromos

  • Markus Wirth was elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors at this year's Annual General Meeting of Chromos. He succeeds Peter Urs Naef, who has chaired the Board of Directors since 2017 and a member since 2016.

Forbo

  • After almost 20 years of service on the Board, member and Vice Chairman, Peter Altorfer will not be standing for re-election at the next 2024 Ordinary General Meeting. The Board will propose Joerg Kampmeyer and Bernhard Merki for election to the Board of Directors.

Georg Fischer

  • Hubert Achermann, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Independent Lead Director, is stepping down due to reaching the age limit. The Board will propose Stefan Räbsamen as his successor in the Annual General Meeting on April 17, 2024 and will take up the position in July of 2024.

  • The Board will also propose former Chairman of the Board of Uponor, Annika Maria Paasikivi, for election as a new Member. Annika has many years of experience as an executive and member of the boards of directors of various industrial companies in the Nordic countries. She will bring her expertise, especially in the field of building technology to support Uponor's smooth business integration and future value creation at GF.

Interroll

  • Former Lead Independent Board Member, Markus Asch, has started the role of Vice Chairman at Interroll.

Intershop

  • The Board of Directors will propose Gregor Bucher for election to the Board at the Annual General Meeting on 27 March 2024. He is currently the Managing Director Corporate Finance & Banking at Swiss Finance & Property, but will retire at the end of 2023.

  • Kurt Ritz, a member of the Board of Directors since 2019, has informed the company that he will not be standing for re-election.

IVF Hartmann

  • The resignation of Stefan Müller, member of the Board of Directors, has been announced, he will leave at the end of the year. Müller has been Vice President of the Supervisory Board since the 2021 Annual General Meeting.

Leclanché

  • Bernard Pons resigned from the Board of Directors effective December 31, 2023.

  • Alexander Rhea has resigned from his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors, but will remain a member of the Board of Directors.

  • The Board proposes to elect two new Members, Lex Bentner and Abdallah Chatila, to the Board of Directors and to elect Lex Bentner as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors on January 12 2024.

Mettler-Toledo

  • Current Chair, Robert F. Spoerry will retire and not stand for re-election to the Board of Directors at the annual meeting of shareholders on May 9th, 2024. Spoerry served Mettler Toledo for 40 years, including as the CEO from 1993 until 2007, and Chair of the Board of Directors since 1998, shortly after its IPO. Roland Diggelmann, an Independent Director of the Board, will be nominated to replace Spoerry as Chair of the Board of Directors in May 2024.

Orell Füssli

  • After 13 years on the Board of Directors, Dieter Widmer, Vice Chairman and Head of the Audit Committee, will not be standing for re-election at the next AGM on May 7, 2024. Pascale Bruderer has been proposed for election to join the Board of Directors.

Peach Property

  • The Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, Reto Garzetti, and member of the Board of Directors, Kurt Hardt, will leave the company at the end of October.

  • Klaus Schmitz, a member of the Board of Directors, will start a role as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective November 1 2023, until the next Annual General Meeting.

  • The current independent members of the Board of Directors, Peter Bodmer and Christian De Prati, will remain in office.

PSP Swiss Property

  • Katharina Lichtner has been proposed for election to the Board of Directors at the next AGM in April 2024. With her election, the Board of Directors will be strengthened, especially in the areas of corporate finance, ESG and real estate market analysis.

R&S Group

  • Following completion of the Initial Business Combination and approval of the name change from VT5 Acquisition Company to R&S Group Holding AG (R&S Group), the shares of R&S Group Holding AG will be traded for the first time on December 13, 2023 at the Swiss Stock Exchange.

  • Gregor Greber is now Independent Board Member at R&S Group.

  • Jennifer Maag, Vice Chairwoman, and Member, Christopher Detweiler have left the Board of Directors as of December 2023.

  • Two new Members have been proposed for election, Beatrix Natter and Rolf Lanz.

Rieter

  • Group CEO Thomas Oetterli is taking over as Chairman of the Board of Directors next spring on a temporary basis. This follows the news that current Chairman Bernhard Jucker will not stand for election at the next AGM due to reaching the statutory age limit. Jucker has been a member of the Rieter Board of Directors since 2016 and has been Chairman since 2017.

  • Thomas Oetterli will now be joined by the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Roger Baillod, as Lead Independent Director.

  • Jennifer Maag will also be elected to the Board of Directors at the next Annual General Meeting. She is the founder and partner of a consulting firm for M&A and sits on the board of directors of Kardex, Weidmann and Artemis (VT5 prior), among others.

Schindler

  • After more than 35 years at Schindler, Erich Ammann, Member of the Board since 2018, will not stand for re-election at the 2024 AGM and begin his retirement.

  • Adam Phillip Keswick decided not to stand for re-election to the Board. His decision is due to the ongoing overlap with the board meetings of Jardine Matheson, preventing him from fulfilling his role properly with Schindler at this time.

  • All other members are standing for re-election at the General Meeting of Shareholders in March 2024, including Alfred Schindler and Luc Bonnard for whom the Board has decided to extend the age limit, in accordance with the exemption foreseen in the organizational regulations.

  • Following his re-election, Tobias Staehelin will become a member of the Supervisory and Strategy Committee, succeeding Erich Ammann in this function.

Sensirion

  • Francois Gabella, a long-standing member of the Board of Directors, will not be available for a further term of office at the upcoming AGM in May 2024. The Board will instead propose the election of Henri Mrejen. Henri has held management positions in various industries before joining 7-Industries, Sensirion's anchor shareholder, as Head of Investments. Henri is also the Chairman of Supervisory Board of Tecinvest.

Sonova

  • The Sonova Board has nominated Gilbert Achermann as a new independent member at the next AGM in 2024. This was done as part of a succession plan for Achermann to replace current Chair, Robert Spoerry, at the 2025 AGM.

StarragTornos Group

  • The StarragTornos Group was formed by the merger of the two Groups Starrag Group and Tornos Holding. The newly merged Group has been listed on SIX Swiss Exchange since December 8, 2023. 

  • The previous Members of the Board of Directors of Tornos, François Frôté, Till Fust and Michel Rollier were elected to the Board of Directors of StarragTornos.

  • Walter Fust is also Vice Chairman of StarragTornos whose term will end in 2024.

  • StarragTornos CEO, Michael Hauser, is now Chairman of the Board.

Swiss Prime Site

  • Christopher Chambers who has been a director at Swiss Prime Site since 2009 will not seek re-election at the next AGM in spring 2024. The company has proposed to elect former Kühne + Nagel CEO, Detlef Andreas Trefzger, as his successor.

Vetropack

  • Urs Kaufmann has decided to step down from the Board of Directors of Vetropack at the next AGM in 2024. In April 2024, Kaufmann is scheduled for election as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bucher Industries.

  • Succeeding Kaufmann, current Huber Suhner CEO, Urs Ryffel has been proposed by the Board to join as a member at the next AGM in April, 2024. Ryffel brings in-depth expertise in the management of international companies.

 

 

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

Industrial Executive Moves

3S Swiss Solar Solutions

  • Klaus Schmülling has been promoted as the new COO of the company. In his previous role at the 3S, Schmülling is credited with setting up the company’s new production facility in Worb.

  • At the same time, current COO, Marcus Bäckmann, has been appointed to the newly created Chief Technical Officer role and will be deputy CEO. He will be responsible for further expanding technologies in the company and driving product development.

ABB

  • ABB has appointed Mathias Gärtner, current Head Legal & Compliance at Holcim, to its Executive Board. There, he will take on the role of general counsel and also secretary of the board of directors. Gärtner will join ABB in 2024. Until he takes office, Chief Integrity Officer Natalia Shehadeh will continue to hold the office on an interim basis.

Adecco

  • After five years as Chief Human Resources Officer, Gordana Landén has decided to retire from her position on January 31 of 2024. Daniela Seabrook has been appointed as Landén’s successor and will begin her new position on the first of January 2024. Daniela brings a wealth of international HR leadership experience, with a particular focus on talent, culture, change management and organizational effectiveness. She was most recently CHRO at Philips.

Adval Tech

  • The Board appointed Cordula Hofmann and Jean Bäbler as new members of Group Executive Management with effect from January 1, 2024. Current, Head Group Human Resources, Cordula Hofmann will take charge of Corporate Communication. Jean Bäbler, currently General Manager of Adval Tech Switzerland & Grenchen, will assume corporate responsibility for all engineering and production sites worldwide in the field of metal.

  • CEO René Rothen was elected Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at the 2023 AGM and will step down from his role as CEO at the end of 2023. In his role as Executive Chairman of the Board, he will continue to hold overall operational responsibility from January 2024 until a suitable CEO successor has been found.

Allreal

  • Peter Binz will take over as Head of Realisation and become a member of Group Management. He is a construction expert with an impressive track record, plenty of industry contacts and many years of leadership experience. Peter Binz will succeed Simon Räbsamen, who has decided to leave the company at the end of 2023.

Ameropa

  • For personal reasons, CEO William Dujardin will step down as CEO at the end of November 2023 but will remain with the company until end of May the following year to ensure a seamless transition. A successor has not yet been appointed.

Ascom

  • As of November 1, Brigitte Spolenak becomes new Chief Human Resource Officer at Ascom, she succeeds Gaby Hunziker.

  • Dominik Maurer has decided to leave as CFO to pursue a career opportunity outside of the company. He will still oversee the year-end closing 2023 and leave by mid-March 2024. A successor has not yet been identified and the recruitment process for this has been initiated.

Barry Callebaut

  • As part of a reorganization to further improve processes, Jo Thys, currently Chief Operations Officer, will assume accountability as President Operations Strategy & Innovation

  • Current CFO Ben De Schryver will return to a commercial role and assume responsibility for the North America regional division as Regional President.

  • Amr Arafa has been appointed as the new Chief Digital Officer, effective 15, 2024. He joins Barry Callebaut from IKEA, where he served as Chief Data Officer for over four years.

Bell Food Group

  • Marco Tschanz will take over as the new CEO of the Bell Food Group on 1 June 2024, while also serving as the head of the Bell Switzerland business area. The current CEO who has been with the company for 13 years, Lorenz Wyss will retire from the company on 30 June 2024.

Burkhalter

  • Following the merger with Poenina, Burkhalter has undergone a change in management. Christoph Arnold, the previous head of the HVAC division and CEO of Poenina, will step down from his position at the end of December. There are no plans for a succession, he will however continue to support the Executive Board in an advisory capacity until June 2024.

  • The managing directors of the HLKS Group companies would report directly to Group CEO Zeno Böhm from the new year. As of January 1, 2024, Burkhalter Services will also report directly to the CEO of the Group and will be merged with Burkhalter Management at a new location in the medium term.

Colosseum Dental

  • Chairman of the Board since 2016, Patrick De Maeseneire was appointed CEO of Colosseum Dental and started in May of 2023. He succeeds Stefan Nilsson, who is leaving the company at the end of February 2023 after five years with the company.

Dormakaba

  • Till Reuter has been appointed as new CEO and will leave his post as a Member of the Board, effective 1 January 2024. He will succeed Jim-Heng Lee, who will leave the company after ten successful years in various roles to return to his homebase.

  • Alex Housten, Chief Operations Officer, will leave the company by the end of March 2024 to take on a position at a larger US-based company within the HVAC industry.

Dätwyler

  • After seven years as CEO and 18 years in Dätwyler’s Executive Management, Dätwyler CEO Dirk Lambrecht has decided to retire and relinquish his operational roles at the end of March 2024. He will be proposed for election to the Board of Directors at the upcoming General Meeting on 14 March 2024. Volker Cwielong, currently in charge of the Purem division of Eberspächer, has been appointed as his successor and will take over in April 2024.

Feintool

  • The Board has appointed previous CFO of Starrag, Thomas Erne as the new Feintool CFO as of April 1, 2024. He succeeds Samuel Künzli, who will leave at the end of March 2024.

Geistlich Pharma

  • Diego Gabathuler has been appointed as the new CEO as of December 1, he succeeds Ralf Halbach, who left the company in August. Diego joins from Ivoclar where he was the CEO since 2019.

Gurit

  • After almost 10 years as CHRO of Gurit, Hannes Haueis has left at the end of December 2023 to pursue a new role as Managing Director Zurich at Grass Group.

Komax

  • Andreas Wolfisberg, CFO of the Komax since 1996, will retire at the end of 2023. He will be succeeded by Christian Mäder, currently CFO of Artemis. Mäder will start working for Komax in August and take over as CFO in October, ensuring a smooth handover. Wolfisberg will then devote his energies to various projects until the end of the year.

Lindt & Sprüngli

  • Lindt & Sprüngli’s Board of Directors have announced the appointment of Nicole Uhrmeister as Chief Human Resources Officer, effective November 2023. Nicole gained over 15 years of experience in various HR management roles for multinational FMCG companies. Most recently she was at Capri Sun where she held the position of Chief HR Officer since 2016.

Logitech

  • Logitech has appointed Hanneke Faber as its new CEO, she will start on December 1, 2023. Faber joins from Unilever where she led the $14 billion nutrition business as Group President.

Migros

  • Just after two months of announcing the departure of Migros Industrie CEO Armando Santacesaria, a successor has been found. Matthias Wunderlin has been elected as its new director, since August, Wunderlin has been responsible for the transformation of the supermarket business into the initial organisation of the new Migros Supermarkt at the beginning of 2024.

Mikron

  • Group CFO Javier Perez Freije, has decided to leave end of April 2024 to take up a new professional challenge.

ON Holding

  • Head of Talent Noa Perry-Reifer has been appointed Chief People Officer at ON Holding.

Richemont

  • Effective 10 November 2023, Karlheinz Baumann will join the Group’s Senior Executive Committee in his capacity as Group Director of Operations. Karlheinz brings 27 years of experience in production, R&D, supply chain excellence across the luxury and automotive industries.

Schindler

  • The Board of Directors has appointed Hugo Martinho to the Group Executive Committee responsible for Human Resources, effective April 1, 2024, succeeding Tobias Staehelin. Hugo has been with Schindler since 2003 and held various HR positions in Europe and Asia.

Sensirion

  • Rahel Meuwly has been appointed as the new VP Human Resources and member of the Executive Board as of 1 November 2023. Meuwly succeeds Heiko Lambach, who held the role for over 12 years. Heiko will remain with Sensirion and will move to talent diagnostics and cultural development.

  • Johannes Bleuel, former VP Operations, has decided to take on new challenges after more than eleven years at Sensirion and left the company at the end of November 2023. Franziska Brem, who holds a PhD in Materials Science from ETH Zurich, has been appointed as his successor. After several years at ABB, she heads the Packaging department at Sensirion, which plays a central role at the interface between R&D and Operations.

SFS

  • Claude Stadler, Head of Corporate Services, will step down from the Group Executive Board at the end of 2023 and assume responsibility for his family's holding company. He will hand over managerial responsibility to Arthur Blank and Volker Dostmann, which will ensure continuity.

South Pole

  • Renat Heuberger, founder of South Pole is resigning with immediate effect. Independent of the CEO, Green National Councillor Bastien Girod is also leaving the company.

  • Heuberger's successor as CEO of the company will be John Davis ad interim. He was previously Commercial Director for Asia and Pacific at South Pole.

  • In addition to an interim CEO, the company intends to appoint a head of risk to review the entire portfolio of climate protection projects. Co-founder Heuberger will take on an advisory role to support the new leadership.

StarragTornos Group

  • The StarragTornos Group was formed by the merger of the two Groups Starrag Group and Tornos Holding. The newly merged Group has been listed on SIX Swiss Exchange since December 8, 2023.

  • Chairman of Starrag, and Tornos CEO, Michael Hauser, is now Chairman and CEO of the StarragTornos Group.

  • Tornos CFO, Stéphane Pittet, is now the CFO of StarragTornos Group.

  • Tornos Chief Sales Officer, Jens Thing is now the current Division CEO of Tornos.

  • Former Starrag CEO, Martin Buyle becomes current Division CEO of Starrag.

Swiss

  • Swiss has appointed Lufthansa Group Senior Vice President Customer Experience, Heike Birlenbach as Chief Commercial Officer with effect from January 2024. She succeeds Tamur Goudarzi Pour, who will take over Customer Experience for the entire Group at the parent company Lufthansa Group.

Swisscom

  • Stefan Nünlist, the long-standing Head of Corporate Communications, will step down on 31 May 2024. He will be succeeded by Myriam Käser, who is currently Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer at Skyguide. Myriam will become a member of the Executive Board, and will be responsible for internal and external communications, sponsorship, public affairs, brand management and corporate responsibility.

Swisslog

  • After the current CEO Antonio Trioschi announced his intention to retire at the end of the year, Swisslog introduced Jens Schmale as the company's new CEO who will take over the role at the turn of the year. Schmale, who joined Swisslog in 2020, was initially responsible for the Autostore business unit before taking on the role of CEO of Swisslog EMEA in September 2021.

Syngenta

  • Effective January 1, 2024, Jeff Rowe was elected Syngenta’s Chief Executive Officer. Rowe is currently President of Protection, the Group's largest business unit. Outgoing CEO Erik Fyrwald will remain in office until the end of the year but will remain a member of the Board and become an advisor to the Chairman of the Board.

Ypsomed

  • Niklaus Ramseier will step down from his roles as Chief Financial Officer, a role he has held for over 20 years, on March 31, 2024. He will continue to be available to the company for strategic projects. His successor, Samuel Künzli, will take up the position of CFO on April 01, 2024.

Zehnder

  • Zehnder appoints Dorien Terpstra as Chief Commercial Officer EMEA and member of the Group Executive Committee. Terpstra succeeds Cyril Peysson who will leave Zehnder after 23 years of service.

 

 

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