Change on Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG

“The last three decades of my life,” Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann commented, “have been primarily devoted to the Schaeffler company and the wider Schaeffler family. While I will be retaining close links with the company as a shareholder, I am happy to be handing a thriving business to the next generation.”

Georg F. W. Schaeffler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG, noted: “My mother’s tireless efforts on the company’s behalf through good times and bad have made a decisive contribution to establishing Schaeffler as one of the world’s leading technology companies to remain majority family-owned. We cannot thank her enough and wish her all the best for the future.”

Jürgen Wechsler, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG, added: “Over her time of active involvement, Mrs. Schaeffler-Thumann has played an outstanding role in making the company a family business in the true sense of the term. The concerns of the employees were always her top priority. We thank her for her lifelong service and commitment and wish her all the best for her well-earned retirement.”

At the Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board will nominate Mrs. Katherina Reiche, CEO of Westenergie AG, for election as Mrs. Schaeffler-Thumann’s replacement.

Mrs. Reiche was a Member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2015, serving as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 2009 to 2013. From 2015 to 2019 she headed the German Association of Local Public Utilities, before taking up her current role at Westenergie AG in 2020. Since 2019, she has been Honorary Chairperson of the National Hydrogen Council of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.