Klaus Rinnerberger has many years of management experience in the automotive supplier industry, combined with extensive restructuring expertise. For example, the 59-year-old - who has held board positions throughout (CFO, CRO, CEO) - helped shape the growth of the Magna Group for many years and successfully restructured the automotive suppliers Polytec and Peguform (now SMP) one after the other. Rinnerberger has been a member of the Pierer Industrie Management Board since 2010.

With his move to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Austrian-born member of the Supervisory Board of Leoni, which he has held since May 2021 and chaired since May 2022, will step down. The new Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board will be Dr. Ulla Reisch, who has been a member of the Board since May 2022. Dr. Reisch, who holds a doctorate in law, has extensive restructuring experience and is an experienced, internationally active member of the Supervisory Board. She also has extensive experience in M&A transactions.

Leoni's Supervisory Board had already decided on April 3, 2023 to appoint Rinnerberger as the future CEO. He succeeds Aldo Kamper, who left the company at the end of March. During the transition phase, Hans-Joachim Ziems assumed the role of CRO and Spokesman of the Board of Directors. Following the successful financial restructuring of Leoni, Ziems left the company as planned at the end of June.

"I am at home in the automotive industry and am delighted to be taking on responsibility as CEO at Leoni right now," says Rinnerberger. "The financial restructuring is on the home straight, which is a liberating blow for the company. And the change in the industry towards alternative drives, connectivity and autonomous driving is more of an opportunity than a risk for us." The financial crisis has overshadowed many things at Leoni recently. "We need to promote entrepreneurial thinking more strongly again in all areas, focus on day-to-day operations and be an attractive employer. That's what I stand for."

Leoni is a provider of products, solutions and services for energy and data management in the automotive industry. The value chain ranges from standardized wires and special and data cables to highly complex wiring systems and associated components, from development to production. The listed group of companies employs around 95,000 people in 27 countries and generated consolidated sales of EUR 5.1 billion in 2022.