Harry Roels

Henricus Josephus Maria "Harry" Roels ([ ˈharriː ruːls ], born July 26, 1948 in the Netherlands ) is a Dutch manager . From February 1, 2003 to September 30, 2007, he was Chairman of the Executive Board of RWE AG .

Life

After graduating from high school , he studied chemistry and physics and graduated in physical chemistry in 1971 . At the multinational oil company Royal Dutch / Shell group of companies, he had worked his way up to the top in 30 years. In July 1999 he was appointed board member of the Royal Dutch / Shell group of companies.

In 2002 he was appointed to the Supervisory Board of RWE AG under Dr. Friedel Neuber appointed as the successor to Dietmar Kuhnt, who is considered willing to make acquisitions, as Chairman of the Board of Management. He was the first externally recruited and also foreign CEO of RWE. During his almost five-year term of office as CEO, Harry Roels relied on debt relief and streamlining of the RWE Group. As a result, the RWE share price more than quadrupled to almost 90 euros during his tenure , so that the capital market experienced scientist enjoyed the sympathy of the shareholders.

When he took office, RWE was like a general store, as it was active in plant engineering, construction, printing machine construction and the waste management industry, which was characterized by medium-sized companies. In addition, RWE had accumulated a mountain of debt of € 26 billion during the year (financial liabilities excluding pension provisions) through excessively expensive acquisitions , which Roels had completely paid off. He succeeded in consolidating the RWE Group, which he concentrated on the core business with electricity and gas until the end of his term of office , but all stages of the value chain, from building own power plants and own gas exploration to electricity generation , trading in electricity and input materials, maintenance of transport - and distribution networks through to the sale of electricity and gas.

Internally, Roels renewed the group. He replaced a patriarchal and bureaucratic style with a participatory style of leadership. He streamlined the holding company and gave more decision-making powers to the (operationally active) subsidiaries, reduced the board of management to three people and established a so-called Group Business Committee (GBC), which, in addition to the RWE AG board of directors, also chaired the board members and management of the major subsidiaries as well as important divisional managers of the holding company. The board of directors was formally responsible for the decisions made in the GBC.

Roels was criticized by some of RWE's strong municipal shareholders, who own around 25% of the shares, for not having participated in the international takeover poker game in the European energy industry. As a result, the group has lost relative size compared to its competitors, including E.ON, which emerged from VEBA and VIAG . In 2006 the Naturschutzbund Deutschland awarded him the negative Dinosaur of the Year prize for environmental behavior that was worthy of criticism.

Roels' successor is Jürgen Großmann , who was placed as the preferred candidate of the former RWE supervisory board chairman and former CEO of WestLB Thomas R. Fischer .

Immediately before and after his tenure at RWE, Roels and his wife spent several months traveling in and (on a sailing yacht) around Australia and New Zealand. Roels operated and plays a variety of sports, including golf.

He brings his professional experience to social projects in developing countries. He provided his foundation with part of his success-based RWE remuneration.

Harry Roels is married to a senior Dutch ministerial official and has two daughters. He has lived in the Netherlands since the end of his term in Essen.

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• FAZ article "Harry Roels 60 Years" from July 25, 2008
• Börsen-Zeitung from July 25, 2008