Dr Martin Sonnenschein has been named as the new chairman of the supervisory board of Heidelberg.
The supervisory board of Heidelberg had previously elected Dr Sonnenschein as chairman of the supervisory board on 28 October, 2019, subject to court appointment, which was granted at the end of November by the Mannheim Register Court. This followed Dr Siegfried Jaschinski’s decision to leave the supervisory board for personal reasons, effective 30 November, 2019. Dr Sonnenschein has now been appointed effective 1 December until the end of the next Heidelberg AGM on 23 July, 2020. There he will be proposed to the shareholders for election to the supervisory board.
Dr Sonnenschein is partner and managing director of the management consultancy A.T. Kearney. As a long-standing member of numerous top management committees, former A.T. Kearney CEO Central Europe and worldwide practice leader, he is responsible for some of the most important clients in industry and services, noted Heidelberg.
In recent years, Dr Sonnenschein has successfully implemented a variety of large digital transformation programmes, and industrial growth and innovation projects around the world, focusing on operational improvements and new business models. Before joining A.T. Kearney, he held management positions at Daimler-Benz InterServices, E-Plus Mobilfunk and ThyssenKrupp.
Dr Sonnenschein commented, ‘The election as chairman of the supervisory board is an honour but rather a responsibility towards shareholders, customers and employees. I wrote my thesis here 30 years ago. Today, Heidelberg is the global market and technology leader as a systems supplier to the printing industry.
‘Now is the time to seize the opportunities offered by digitisation, technological change and new customer requirements. The current economic situation is making it more difficult. The demands on expanding expertise, speed of change and innovation are high. Profitability must increase in order to have scope for the transformation that has begun and for new markets. With the Heidelberg spirit of the entire team, we will successfully shape these massive changes.’
Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer said, ‘Dr Martin Sonnenschein has many years of comprehensive industrial expertise in the areas of strategy and transformation that are important to Heidelberg. He has successfully implemented growth projects around the world that have focused not only on important strategic decisions but also on digitisation and increasing profitability. Thanks to his management experience, he will play a valuable role in being a sparring partner for us.’
