Helmut Werner (Manager)
Helmut Werner (born September 2, 1936 in Cologne , † February 6, 2004 in Berlin ) was a German manager , swimmer and water polo player .
Career
The son of a bank manager was a German champion in the 100 m backstroke in his youth and then a member of the German national water polo team. In 1956 he graduated from high school, followed by a degree in business administration in Cologne and Bonn , which he completed in 1961 with a degree in business administration.
He then started as a trainee at Englebert & Co GmbH in Aachen , where he then worked in the marketing department. In 1970 he moved to the European headquarters of the merged company Uniroyal-Englebert in Liège . From 1977 he headed all product groups at Uniroyal Europe and in 1978 he was appointed director for marketing and development in Europe.
In 1979 he moved up to the board of Continental Gummiwerke AG , which had bought the European business of Uniroyal Englebert. In January 1982 Werner became CEO of Continental as the successor to Carl Hahn , who became the head of the Volkswagen group .
In November 1987 Werner moved to the Board of Management of the Daimler-Benz group and took over the "Commercial Vehicles" department. At Mercedes-Benz he also became deputy to CEO Werner Niefer . He also became a member of the group board of the Daimler-Benz AG holding company.
From May 1993 Werner was CEO of Mercedes-Benz AG. In 1994 he achieved savings of DM 4 billion. He also cut 35,000 jobs. But primarily he expanded the product range.
In 1996 Werner was awarded a Bambi .
In January 1997 Werner left Daimler-Benz after losing an internal power struggle against the new CEO Jürgen Schrempp .
After that Werner was mainly active as an advisor. Until 2000 he also chaired the supervisory board of EXPO 2000 in Hanover . From 1998 to 2003 he was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Frankfurter Metallgesellschaft AG (today GEA Group ).
Werner died of legionnaires' disease , a lung infection.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Werner, Helmut |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German manager, swimmer and water polo player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 2, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cologne |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 6, 2004 |
| Place of death | Berlin |