Mark Vender
Bitzer has appointed Christian Wehrle as CEO, with immediate effect. Wehrle will also chair the executive board.
The position has remained vacant since former Bitzer CEO and leader Peter Schaufler died in 2015. His wife and chair of the supervisory board, Christiane Schaufler-Münch, has now realigned the board structure to ensure stability in the planned development of the Bitzer group.
Wehrle joined the company in 2001 as a plant manager. In 2007 he took over the management of the Bitzer production sites worldwide as Chief Production Officer. And since mid-2015 he has been in charge of the entire supply chain of the Group as Chief Operations Officer (COO).
Wehrle plans to continue managing and setting the company’s course in line with its long-standing values.
“Customer focus, values such as long-term thinking, partnership-based cooperation and loyalty to stakeholders as well as sustainability have shaped Bitzer in the past and are firmly anchored in its corporate culture,” says Wehrle.
Bitzer also announced the appointment of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Rainer Große-Kracht as Vice Chair of the Executive Board. As CTO, Große-Kracht is responsible for research and development worldwide. He has been working for Bitzer since 1997, and in 2018 was elected to chair the Association of European Refrigeration Component Manufacturers (ASERCOM).
The Bitzer board now consists of Wehrle, who will remain in charge of operations as CEO; Große-Kracht, who will continue to act as CTO; Martin Büchsel as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO); and Frank Hartmann as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
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