Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberger
Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), will not be extending his management contract
when it expires midyear 2013 and will be leaving the company at the end of
2012. He is handing over the company's chairmanship after almost 13 years in
charge. Over recent months, key steps have been taken to set the company's new
strategic course and a start has been made on putting this into practice to
return Heidelberg to sustained profitable growth. What's more, the industry
trade show drupa has led to the highest quarterly incoming orders in four years
for the first quarter of financial year 2012/2013. The Supervisory Board and
Schreier himself feel now is the right time to make the change in order to
create new impetus at the very top of the company. The Supervisory Board
unanimously appointed Dr. Gerold Linzbach (56) as Heidelberg CEO with effect
from September 1, 2012. Schreier will ensure the transition goes smoothly and
will accompany the handover process up till the end of the year.
"I would like to thank Bernhard Schreier
for his achievements as Heidelberg CEO. In a career spanning a total of 37
years, 13 of them as CEO, he has truly made his mark on the company and has
succeeded in guiding it through two major global economic crises and structural
upheaval in the printing industry. Particularly in very difficult recent times,
he has helped transform Heidelberg from a traditional press manufacturer into a
solution and service provider in the print media industry," said Robert J.
Koehler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
"Heidelberg is a global market leader and is renowned worldwide for its
cutting-edge technology and customer proximity. In Dr. Gerold Linzbach, we are
delighted to have found a successor with international experience to press
ahead with the company's strategic reorientation and ensure its return to
profitability. Dr. Linzbach has many years of management and capital market
expertise, which will help pave the way for a successful future at
Heidelberg," he added.
Dr. Gerold Linzbach (born in 1956) obtained a
degree in chemistry and added a PhD in chemical engineering from the University
of Dortmund in 1985. Having started his career as the head of a research group
at the DECHEMA Institute in Frankfurt, he joined McKinsey in 1988 where he was
in charge of a variety of projects, primarily in the process industry. In 1991,
Dr. Linzbach became a member of Hoechst AG's corporate planning team and
subsequently took charge of this department. During this period, he was part of
the "Aufbruch 94" team that laid the foundations for Hoechst AG's new
corporate structure. Four years later, he assumed the position of global CEO of
a business unit responsible for the company's fibers operations (Trevira GmbH).
In 1999, Dr. Linzbach played a leading role in founding Aventis and went on to
become global CEO and President of the Celanese Acetate Group based in the
United States until 2003. From 2003 to 2005, he was responsible for the textile
fibers division INVISTA, also in the United States.
On March 1, 2005, Dr. Linzbach was appointed
Chairman and CEO of Symrise AG in Holzminden, Germany. He successfully led it
onto the stock market at the end of 2006 and onto the MDAX in March 2007. Dr.
Linzbach left the company for personal reasons at the end of June 2009. He was
subsequently appointed CEO and Member of the Management Board of D+S Europe and
its successor companies in Hamburg.
