Former BASF board member
Saori Dubourg becomes new CEO of Greiner AG
With effect from March 1, 2024, the Greiner Supervisory Board has appointed ex-BASF board member Saori Dubourg as CEO. She succeeds Axel Kühner, who left the company at the turn of the year after 15 years.
Following her surprising departure from the chemicals group, the top manager is taking up a new job at Greiner in Austria. The company is one of the leading foam producers and plastics processors for the packaging, furniture, sports and automotive industries, for medical technology and the pharmaceutical sector. Greiner generated a turnover of 2.33 billion euros in the 2022 financial year and employed over 11,600 people at 120 locations in 34 countries.
"We are proud and happy to have gained an excellent manager and strong personality for our group of companies in Saori Dubourg. Saori Dubourg brings a broad and valuable wealth of experience from her international career at BASF, the world's largest chemical company. During the application process, she impressed us with her strong focus on innovation and sustainability as well as her forward-looking approach," explains Dominik Greiner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Greiner AG.
Focus on sustainability
"I am very much looking forward to the new role and the creative opportunities that come with the job. The pressure on companies to transform is high. At the same time, I have seen the Greiner family business as a pioneer in the field of sustainability and the circular economy. Continuing and intensifying this course is a great attraction. I am convinced that sustainable economic success can only be achieved with innovative strength and ecological and social responsibility," explains Saori Dubourg.
Saori Dubourg studied business administration at the University of Trier and began her career at BASF in 1996, where she held operational management positions in Ludwigshafen and at sites in the USA, China, Japan and Singapore. In addition to the various operational business units, she was also responsible for managing the Sustainability Board. She was a member of the Board of Executive Directors from 2017 to 2023.
In 2017, she was named Manager of the Year by Manager Magazin and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), topping the list of the hundred most influential women in German business. In 2021, she was named Manager of the Year by Handelsblatt.
In addition to her management role at BASF, she was a member of the EU Commission's High Level Industrial Group and in this role contributed to a vision paper for Europe 2030. She is also a member of the German Federal Government's Council for Sustainable Development and a member of the steering committee of the Impact Taskforce, which was founded under the British G7 presidency in 2021.









