Bent and Olesch say goodbye
Phoenix Contact reorganizes management board
As part of the succession plan for Prof. Dr. Gunther Olesch and Roland Bent, Phoenix Contact is restructuring its management: Dirk Görlitzer, Torsten Janwlecke, Ulrich Leidecker and Dr. Frank Possel-Dölken are moving up.
Phoenix Contact is focusing on succession planning for the Managing Directors Prof. Dr. Gunther Olesch (CHRO/Personnel) and Roland Bent (CTO/Technology), who will be retiring from the Management Board in the next twelve months. For this reason, four new members will be added to the Management Board with effect from August 1. With Dirk Görlitzer, Torsten Janwlecke and Ulrich Leidecker, three presidents of the company's three business divisions will join the Management Board. As Chief Operating Officers, they will continue to be responsible for their respective business areas, but will also take on tasks for central corporate divisions.
Dr. Frank Possel-Dölken will also be appointed to the Management Board as Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Possel-Dölken is currently Head of the Corporate Technology & Value Chain division. His future responsibilities will also include the IT division and all digital transformation issues. As a result, digitalization will become the central focus of technology and process development within the company.
Together with Frank Stührenberg, CEO (Chairman), and Axel Wachholz, CFO, all four will form the Management Board from spring 2021.
The newly appointed members of the Management Board have already been working in the company's management for several years. Stührenberg: "The expansion provides our group of companies with a framework for the holistic further development of management and structure. This goal was the mandate of our Advisory Board in order to position the Phoenix Contact Group for the requirements of the future. In particular, the appointment of the new CDO is of crucial importance in the digital transformation. The ability to innovate and innovation strategies as well as the IT capability of a company are success-determining factors for the new decade."
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