VDMA
Bertram Kawlath is the new VDMA President
Bertram Kawlath is Managing Partner of Schubert & Salzer, a medium-sized group of companies based in Ingolstadt that specializes in industrial control valves and software systems for SMEs. "I am looking forward to this important task in difficult times, representing the mechanical and plant engineering industry with its more than 3600 VDMA members over the next four years," says Kawlath about his election. "Our industry is paving the way with its technologies and solutions, for example in the broad fight against climate change, the generation of renewable energies or the automation and digitalization of production processes. We are also an industry that is strong in research," he emphasizes. "But in order to remain internationally competitive, politicians must now change course very quickly and relieve the burden on small and medium-sized industrial companies in particular. The flood of regulations from Berlin and Brussels is especially stifling smaller companies, our tax rate for companies is significantly higher than the OECD average and there is a lack of new free trade agreements that open up markets for us. All of this can and must be tackled now, there is no more time to lose," demands Kawlath. The new VDMA President also wants to work on getting more women interested in technical professions and on the ongoing Europeanization of the association.
Born in 1970, Kawlath - after studying history in Erlangen and London and gaining an MBA in Geneva - became Managing Director and member of the Supervisory Board of Eisenwerk Erla, Saxony, which belonged to Schubert & Salzer, in 2004. From 2010 to 2023, Kawlath was Managing Partner of Schubert & Salzer Feinguss Lobenstein, Thuringia.
Kawlath has been involved in the VDMA for many years: He is a member of the Narrower Executive Board and the Main Executive Board of the VDMA, and has also been Chairman of the Executive Board of VDMA Bavaria since 2021 until the end of 2024. He was elected Vice President of the VDMA in 2020.
Alexander Jakschik (born 1982) was elected to the office of Vice President. He studied industrial engineering in Dresden. Since 2015, he has managed his family business ULT, based in Löbau (Saxony), as a member of the Executive Board. The company's core business area is the development and production of systems for the effective removal of airborne pollutants or the reduction of air humidity. He has been a board member of the VDMA Regional Association East since 2018 and its chairman since 2022. He has also been a member of the Executive Board of the VDMA Additive Manufacturing Association since 2018.
Verena Thies (born 1985), Managing Partner of Thies in Coesfeld (Westphalia), was elected Vice President. Verena Thies studied business administration in Hamburg. Her family business manufactures textile machinery and specializes in the development and production of dyeing machines that integrate digitalization and resource efficiency. She has been a board member of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association since 2011 and its deputy chairwoman since 2017. Verena Thies is also a member of the VDMA delegation to the European umbrella organization Cematex.
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