After 33 years at Phoenix Contact, Frank Stührenberg, Chairman of the Management Board, will retire in December 2024. He will be succeeded by Dirk Görlitzer, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) since 2020. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Stührenberg and Görlitzer will share the chairmanship of the Management Board from July 1. However, Frank Stührenberg is not saying goodbye completely: he will remain associated with the Group as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the newly founded Phoenix Contact E-Mobility Holding SE.

"Our family business is characterized by the fact that top management is also driven by the family spirit of togetherness and responsibility," emphasizes Dr. Frank Eisert, shareholder and member of the Phoenix Contact Advisory Board. "After around thirty years at Phoenix Contact, Dirk Görlitzer embodies not only technical and entrepreneurial success, but also - like Frank Stührenberg - the values that characterize our company beyond that: Trust, respect, partnership and reliability. As a passionate advocate of our vision of the All Electric Society, he will continue to consistently develop the strategic direction of Phoenix Contact."

Frank Stührenberg, born in 1963, studied economics with a focus on business informatics. He has worked at Phoenix Contact in Blomberg since 1992, including many years in senior sales positions. In 2006, Stührenberg was appointed to the management board of Phoenix Contact and has been its CEO since January 2015.

Dirk Görlitzer, who studied electrical engineering, has been with Phoenix Contact since 1994. His career has taken him from product manager to head of the Industrial Components and Electronics (ICE) business area to the current management of Phoenix Contact.

Following the departure of Frank Stührenberg, the Phoenix Contact Management Board will continue to include the current members Torsten Janwlecke (COO), Ulrich Leidecker (COO), Frank Possel-Dölken (CDO) and Axel Wachholz (CFO) in addition to Dirk Görlitzer (Chairman and CEO).