Schmolz + Bickenbach AG nominates new members to the Board of Directors

Schmolz + Bickenbach will propose six new members, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, Heinrich Christen, David Metzger, Dr Michael Schwarzkopf, Karin Sonnenmoser and Jörg Walther, for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting on April 28, 2020. The current members Martin Haefner (Vice-Chairman), Michael Büchter, Isabel Corinna Knauf and Alexey Moskov will not stand for re-election. The two current members Jens Alder and Adrian Widmer will stand for re-election, Jens Alder also as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Svein Richard Brandtzæg (NO, 1957) is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Norwegian company Veidekke ASA. From 2009 to 2019 he was President & CEO of Norsk Hydro ASA. Svein Richard Brandtzæg holds a Master of Science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology/NTNU in Trondheim (NO), where he also obtained his PhD degree at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry.

Heinrich Christen (CH, 1965) is a partner at BLR & Partners Ltd. in Zurich (CH). Before joining BLR & Partners in 2019, he held various positions at Ernst & Young. Currently, Heinrich Christen is a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss companies AMAG Group AG, KIBAG Group and B. Curti Holding, among others. Heinrich Christen holds a title lic. phil. I in Philosophy, International Law, European Law and Modern History from the University of Zurich with further studies in Konstanz and Stanford. He also holds an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

David Metzger (CH/FR, 1969) has been Managing Director Investments of Witel AG since 2018, a company that provides consulting, investment and portfolio management advisory services to a range of international companies. At present he has a non-executive appointment as a Board Member of Italy-based Octo Telematics. David Metzger holds a master’s degree in Business Economics from the University of Zurich and an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, FR).

Dr Michael Schwarzkopf (AT, 1961) has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Plansee Group since 2017, where he was a member of the Plansee Group's Executive Board from 1993 to 2017 and its Chairman from 1996 to 2017. In addition to other mandates, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of voestalpine AG from 2004 to 2018. Dr Michael Schwarzkopf holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as well as a PhD title in materials sciences from Montanuniversität Leoben.

Karin Sonnenmoser (GER, 1969) has been CFO of Ceconomy AG since 2019. She previously held the CFO position at Zumtobel Group AG in Dornbirn from 2014 until 2018. Karin Sonnenmoser holds a degree in business administration from the University of Augsburg with a focus on controlling/auditing and marketing and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton (Ohio, USA).

Jörg Walther (CH, 1961) is a partner of Schärer Attorneys at Law in Aarau since 2010. Prior to that, he held various management positions at Novartis, ABB and Danzas, among others. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Proderma AG, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zehnder Group AG as well as member of the Boards of Directors of SFS Group AG, Huber+Suhner AG, AEW Energie AG, Kraftwerk Augst AG and Immobilien AEW AG. Jörg Walther is admitted to the bar in Switzerland and holds a law degree from the University of Zurich, a post-graduate degree in European Economic Law from the University of St. Gallen and an MBA from the University of Chicago (Illinois, USA).

Subject to the election of the nominated members, the major shareholder BigPoint Holding AG (49.6%) will be represented by Heinrich Christen und Jörg Walther, the major shareholder Liwet Holding AG (25%) by David Metzger on the Board of Directors. The remaining five nominated members are to be considered independent.

Source and photo: Schmolz + Bickenbach AG