ZF will have a new CEO effective Feb. 1. Wolf-Henning Scheider will succeed Dr. Konstantin Sauer in the position and as head of the ZF Group. The 55-year-old business administration graduate has many years of management experience in technology, with companies such as Bosch and MAHLE.
“As MAHLE’s CEO, Wolf-Henning Scheider demonstrated outstanding competence in regard to a game-changing transformation process,” said ZF’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen.
“Scheider is an industry expert and a leader who stands for continuity – with both his technical and interpersonal skills. He will systematically continue to execute our Strategy ZF 2025,” explained Paefgen. “He is also a visionary and stands for guided change. With sensitivity and in constant exchange with all parties involved, he will guide ZF through the challenging transformation process which the whole automotive industry is currently facing.
“Special thanks goes to Dr. Konstantin Sauer who assumed the role of ZF’s CEO in addition to his function as CFO during the transition phase and as such, delivered stability for the company,” said Paefgen. “I would also like to thank MAHLE GmbH, which enabled the quick and straightforward move of Wolf-Henning Scheider. The fact that the product portfolios do not have any overlaps has helped significantly in this process.”
The ZF shareholders, the Zeppelin Foundation and the Ulderup Foundation welcome Scheider’s appointment, commenting, “Wolf-Henning Scheider has both excellent managerial skills and personality and comes with all the experience, leadership competence and strategic thinking required. He has outstanding connections and knows the tasks and challenges of the automotive and supplier industry very well,” said Andreas Brand, representative of the Zeppelin Foundation, and Dr. Joachim Meinecke, representative of the Ulderup Foundation. “We are very much looking forward to working with him.”
Scheider, born in Saarbrücken on May 6, 1962, studied business administration at the University of Saarbrücken, Germany, and the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where he graduated in 1987.
He then started a trainee program at Robert Bosch GmbH. From 1989 to 2010, he worked in different positions at Bosch such as vice president – power tools in France, CEO of the Car Multimedia division in Hildesheim, Germany, and as CEO of the Gasoline Systems division in Schwieberdingen, Germany. From 2010 to 2015, he was a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, where he additionally became the spokesman of the automotive technology business sector in July 2013. Scheider became part of the MAHLE Group’s executive management in April 2015 and assumed the role of chairman and CEO in July 2015.
