In January 2011, the first step taken by Tognum to establish a new global sales organisation came into force. The new organization is designed to improve the service and support provided for the company’s existing customers and above all to acquire new customers worldwide for its broadly diversified product portfolio.
Peter Kneipp (53) joined MTU Friedrichshafen in 1989 as a project manager for marine propulsion systems. At an early stage in his career, Peter Kneipp was involved in projects that enabled him to acquire experience in the Asia-Pacific region, where he has worked since 1997 until the end of 2010. He initially spent several years in Singapore, where he was mainly involved in customer service and after sales. In 2000, Peter Kneipp transferred to Australia, where for several years he held the position of Managing Director of MTU’s subsidiary, MTU Detroit Diesel Australia. Following an interim period in the USA at MTU Detroit Diesel, Peter Kneipp was President and CEO of the fastest growing Tognum subsidiary, MTU Asia Ltd., from 2004 until his appointment to the Executive Board of Tognum AG as the member responsible for the Engines Business Unit.
Christof von Branconi (51) came to Tognum in 2007 and in the course of the last four and a half years has successfully established the company’s business in distributed energy systems based on diesel and gas engines. He also handled Tognum‘s successful divestment of its former propeller shaft operations. Christof von Branconi will leave the company on 30 September for personal reasons.
As already announced, Joachim Coers will assume the position of CEO on 1 October 2011 and Dieter Royal that of CFO. Coers succeeds Volker Heuer, who will retire on 30 September. Joachim Coers is currently CFO, Head of Group Services, Industrial Director and Deputy Chairman of Tognum. In his new position as Chairman and CEO, the 45-year-old will remain Industrial Director. The positions of CFO and Head of Group Services will be transferred to the current Head of Corporate Finance, Dieter Royal (47). CTO Dr. Ulrich Dohle (57) is to take over the duties of Deputy Chairman from Joachim Coers as of 1 October.
Joachim Coers began his career in 1993 in the Financial Planning Departments of subsidiaries of the Daimler Group before transferring to the Freightliner Corporation in the USA in 1997, where he was Head of Product and Production Control. From 2000 to 2001, he was Commercial Head of the Marketing and Services Business Unit at Adtranz DaimlerChrysler Railsystems GmbH in Berlin. In February 2001, he was appointed Head of Corporate Accounts and Controlling at Mitsubishi Motors Company in Japan. In September 2004, Joachim Coers joined MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH and was appointed Managing Director in 2005. Since the foundation of Tognum AG in 2007, he has held the positions of CFO and Industrial Director.
Dieter Royal began his professional career in 1992 in investment banking at Dresdner Bank AG, where he held various management positions in the leveraged finance and capital markets departments at the bank’s offices in Frankfurt, New York and São Paulo until 1999. Following a further four years as Managing Director of a private equity company in Düsseldorf, he was appointed Head of Group Controlling and Corporate Development in 2003 at the Stuttgart-based plant and systems engineering group, Coperion. In 2006, the qualified economist transferred to the MDAX-listed systems engineering provider and robot manufacturer, KUKA AG. As head of the Investor Relations and M&A department, he was primarily responsible for repositioning the former IWKA AG in 2006/2007. Dieter Royal joined Tognum in 2007, assuming the duties of Head of Corporate Finance.
Dr. Ulrich Dohle, a qualified engineer, came to Tognum in 2009, following a period of 25 years at the Stuttgart-based Robert Bosch GmbH, where he had held a variety of positions in both development and engineering, including nine years in the USA and the UK. Dr. Dohle’s final position before leaving Bosch was that of President of Diesel Systems, the company‘s largest business segment.