Heidelberg has appointed Martin Sonnenschein as new chairman of its supervisory board.
He says, “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.
Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg, says, “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.”
Sonnenschein, a partner and managing director of the management consultancy A.T. Kearney, is also a long-standing member of numerous top management committees. A former A.T. Kearney chief executive for Central Europe and worldwide practice leader, he is responsible for some of the most important clients in industry and services.
Heidelberg says that, in recent years, Sonnenschein has successfully implemented a variety of large digital transformation programs and industrial growth and innovation projects around the world, focusing on operational improvements and new business models. Before joining A.T. Kearney, the Karlsruhe graduate industrial engineer held management positions at Daimler-Benz InterServices, E-Plus Mobilfunk and ThyssenKrupp.
