From April 1, 2022, the international management consultancy Horváth will reshape its top management team. Two existing and two new Managing Board members will continue to drive the growth of the company, which now has more than 1,000 employees. Helmut Ahr, a long-standing member of the Managing Board, will take over as CEO from Dr Michael Kieninger, who will leave the Managing Board as of the new fiscal year. Dr Uwe Michel will also leave the Board. He will once again be increasingly involved in Horváth's operational business. Altfrid Neugebauer will continue to be a member of the Managing Board. Two long-standing partners have been newly appointed to the Board: Axel Borcherding and Stefan Hiendlmeier.
"Helmut Ahr has been an experienced leader in our company for more than 20 years and has a clear vision, comprehensive expertise and strength of implementation," says Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dr Bernd Gaiser. Ahr was appointed to the Managing Board of Horváth AG in 2012. "I am convinced that, as the future CEO, he will take the company to the next level with his personality and experience around business transformations and performance management together with his fellow board members and partners," Gaiser adds.
The current CEO Dr Michael Kieninger had already informed the Supervisory Board at an early stage that after 10 years as CEO and a total of 18 years on Horváth's Managing Board, he would not be available for another term. Together with Dr Uwe Michel, who will once again assume responsibility in Horváth's operative business, two long-standing Board members are thus leaving the Board. "We very much regret that Michael Kieninger and Uwe Michel are leaving the Board - but of course respect this decision and thank them for their valuable work," says Gaiser. "Horváth has grown from around 400 to more than 1,000 employees with 12 locations in 8 countries in the 10 years that Michael Kieninger and Uwe Michel have been on the Managing Board - that speaks for itself. The Coronavirus crisis has also been extraordinarily well managed and the signs continue to point to growth."
Further development on strong roots
As the new CEO, Helmut Ahr will be responsible for the consultancy areas of Controlling & Finance as well as Transformation and will further expand Horváth's profile as a leading management consulting firm for corporate performance management and transformation. "With our further developed strategy, we are perfectly positioned to comprehensively support our customers internationally in their transformation and orientation towards the future in times of great change. Our clear goal is to continue to grow at an above-average rate in the coming years," explains Ahr. Altfrid Neugebauer will take over the role of CFO from Uwe Michel and will be responsible for the manufacturing industries at Horváth.
With Axel Borcherding and Stefan Hiendlmeier, two long-standing partners will also enrich the future Managing Board with new impetus. The focus of Axel Borcherding, currently CEO of Horváth USA and previously jointly responsible for the Competence Center Chemicals & Life Science, will be the further expansion of the international business. Stefan Hiendlmeier, an expert in insurance and financial advisers, will further develop the entire area of the process and service industries and be responsible for Human Resources.
"Axel Borcherding and Stefan Hiendlmeier have done a great job in the past years and will bring valuable new impetus to the top management team in the future. The new Managing Board drawn from among the partners, together with the entire team, will continue the company's course to success," Gaiser sums up.
