LUXEMBOURG – Sam Martin, COO of SAF-HOLLAND Group and president of the American subsidiary SAF-HOLLAND Inc., will resign from his operating activities at the end of 2010 at his own request. He will remain available to the company to help ensure a smooth transition in leadership. He is expected to be nominated to join the board of directors at the company’s Annual General Meeting on April 28, 2011. His responsibilities on the management board will be re-distributed, and the board will also be reduced in size.
Jack Gisinger will succeed Martin as president of the American subsidiary SAF-HOLLAND and will take up his new position as of Jan. 2, 2011. At the same time, Detlef Borghardt will assume the position of Deputy CEO of the entire Group and will take over the responsibility for the strategic planning. The COO function will therefore be dropped in the future.
"Sam Martin’s decision to end his active career marks the departure of a strong leader who had a formative influence on the company. He made a vital contribution to SAF-HOLLAND, a company recognized today as a technology leader and a strong brand in many of our international markets. The board would like to thank Sam, also on behalf of all his colleagues and staff, for the outstanding work he has done. Jack Gisinger and Detlef Borghardt are recognized market experts who will continue to pursue our corporate strategy, and we are very pleased that they have taken on these new responsibilities," said Bernhard Schneider, chairman of the board of directors at SAF-HOLLAND S.A.
Gisinger and Borghardt were appointed to the management board in June 2007 in the course of the initial public offering of SAF-HOLLAND. Each is responsible for one of the company’s three business units. Gisinger is head of the Powered Vehicle Systems Business Unit and Borghardt is head of the Trailer Systems Business Unit. In addition to their new functions, they will continue to be responsible for these business units.
Gisinger holds degrees in aeronautical engineering and mechanical engineering. Since joining the company in 1980, he has held various management positions with increasing responsibility at SAF-HOLLAND or the former Holland Group. These positions included several years as managing director of the European companies of the former Holland Group Inc.
Borghardt holds an engineering degree in vehicle design. He joined SAF in 2000 as head of Sales, Marketing and Services. Before joining SAF, he held several management positions at Alusuisse-Lonza.
Martin was also appointed to the management board in 2007 in the course of the initial public offering of SAF-HOLLAND Group. After gaining initial professional experience as a metallurgical engineer, Martin, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering, joined the company in 1974 and soon took up management positions. He played a decisive role in shaping the success of the former Holland Group, and subsequently SAF-HOLLAND Group. Important milestones of his work include the successful reorganization of the former Holland Group in 2002 and 2003, the merger of the companies SAF and Holland at the end of 2006, the initial public offering of the Company in mid 2007 and the restructuring in North America of the SAF-HOLLAND Group as a result of the recent financial and economic crisis.
A further change to the management board of SAF-HOLLAND involves the resignation of Dr. Martin Kleinschmitt as chief restructuring officer (CRO). Consistent with the completion of the company’s restructuring program that was introduced two years ago, he has concluded his function of CRO on the management board as planned. Kleinschmitt was appointed as an additional member of the management board on Aug. 1, 2009 and played a crucial role in securing the group’s financing at the end of last year. He is also a member of the executive board of Noerr Consulting AG, Berlin, and will continue to act as a consultant to SAF-HOLLAND on a selective basis.
The rest of the SAF-HOLLAND Group GmbH’s management board remains the same, with Rudi Ludwig as CEO, Wilfried Trepels as CFO and Steffen Schewerda as head of Group Operations.
