Wolfgang Dietrich (entrepreneur)

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Wolfgang Dietrich (2018)

Wolfgang Dietrich (born July 24, 1948 in Stetten im Remstal ) is a German entrepreneur and was President of VfB Stuttgart from October 9, 2016 until his resignation on July 15, 2019 . From 2010 to February 2015 he was the spokesman for the Stuttgart – Ulm rail project ( Stuttgart 21 and the new Wendlingen – Ulm line ) and chairman of the board of the association of the same name.

Career

Dietrich grew up in Backnang . His parents Margarete and Wilhelm Dietrich ran a café in Steinbach. His father Wilhelm, a trained baker, had previously returned from the Second World War as a disabled man. Dietrich first completed a commercial apprenticeship. After the early death of his parents, he moved from Backnang to Stuttgart, where he started studying business administration .

Entrepreneur

At the age of 22 he founded a programming office and shortly afterwards joined the Stuttgart software and systems house Strässle . There he was initially sales manager and later managing director. He also acquired a 5 percent stake in the company.

Dietrich worked for Strässle for 22 years. During this time, the company grew to more than 500 employees and a three-digit million turnover. He left surprisingly in November 1995, at the same time he sold his stake in the company. In February 1996, Dietrich founded the holding company VMM Consulting GmbH , based in Leonberg, of which he is the sole managing director and partner to this day.

Two years after his departure, Strässle filed for bankruptcy. Together with a business partner, Dietrich took over one of the business areas for VMM. Between 1995 and 2008 he also invested in several medium-sized software companies through VMM. He sold these shares in 2008, at the same time he also sold his programming office founded in 1970.

From 2008 he started to get involved in the field of sports marketing and concentrated his entrepreneurial activities in the field of financing and marketing in the field of professional football .

From 2005 to 2011 Dietrich was the sole general representative and VMM was one of two shareholders of the sports sponsor and financial investor Ventric AG. At the end of 2009, he also founded Quattrex Sports AG, the main shareholder of which was initially VMM. At the end of 2009, he also founded Quattrex Sports AG, the main shareholder of which was initially VMM. From 2010, VMM gradually began to transfer and sell the shares to Christoph Dietrich and his business partner Tobias Schlauch. In 2011 Tobias Schlauch and Christoph Dietrich took over the active management of Quattrex Sports AG . After that, Dietrich stepped down from the board of the company, in May 2016, he also joined from the Supervisory Board of Quattrex AG back. Until mid-2016, Dietrich held just under 14 percent of the shares through his VMM, which were then sold in 2017.

Together with Tobias Schlauch and his son Christoph, Dietrich founded Quattrex Finance GmbH in 2015 and, shortly afterwards, Quattrex Sarl Luxembourg. He held the shares in turn through VMM. These companies have an advisory role in the investment decisions of the Quattrex SCA Sicav Fund, which invests in professional soccer clubs in Germany and other European countries with funds from German institutional investors. After these companies had been established and started operating, Dietrich resigned from the management of Quattrex Finance GmbH in May 2016. VMM's shares in Quattrex Sarl Luxemburg were sold in October 2016. VMM's shares in Quattrex Finance GmbH were sold or transferred to the two co-shareholders with effect from January 1, 2018.

CEO and spokesman for the Stuttgart – Ulm rail project

The term of office of Wolfgang Dietrichs as spokesman and chairman of the board of the Stuttgart – Ulm eV rail project from September 2010 to February 2015 was marked by a number of important events. These include the so-called “Black Thursday”, the arbitration at Stuttgart 21 , the stress test and the first referendum in the country's history on an infrastructure project. The result of the referendum was clear: a clear majority (58.9%) in the state and also in the Stuttgart region voted against the state of Baden-Württemberg withdrawing from project financing. In the state elections in Baden-Württemberg on March 27, 2011 , there was also a change of government in Baden-Württemberg that was considered "historic" .

Dietrich had been proposed for the office of spokesman by the then CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Rüdiger Grube. The project partners (State of Baden-Württemberg, Association of the Stuttgart Region , State Capital Stuttgart, Stuttgart Airport , Deutsche Bahn) unanimously elected Dietrich as Chairman of the Board and Spokesman. The Stuttgart – Ulm Railway Project Association itself was founded jointly by the project partners in 2009.

On October 8, 2014, Dietrich announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the year. With the approval of the groundwater management by the Federal Railway Authority in September 2014, the decisive breakthrough was achieved and the project became irreversible. [2] [3]. At the unanimous request of the project partners, Dietrich then extended his commitment again and only resigned from his offices at the beginning of February 2015. In the first year Dietrich worked on a voluntary basis, from the beginning of 2012 his work was paid.

When he said goodbye, he was recognized by the project management organization Deutsche Bahn and proponents from politics and society for his work and the results achieved. Project opponents, such as the park guards or the Filder community, saw him as a whipping boy with no decision-making authority and a lack of support from those responsible for the project, who publicly defended compliance with the project's budget and schedule to the end.

With Dietrich's departure, the competencies and responsibilities between the association and DB Projekt Stuttgart-Ulm GmbH were reorganized. The role of spokesperson for the project and thus informing the public about the progress of construction was integrated into the tasks of DB Projekt Stuttgart-Ulm GmbH. Since then, the Stuttgart – Ulm Railway Project Association has been concentrating on the overall public relations work on the project and thus providing direct information to the citizens.

President of VfB Stuttgart

On July 22, 2016 it became known that Wolfgang Dietrich had been proposed for the office of president by the supervisory board of the then second division club VfB Stuttgart. Dietrich's candidacy met with criticism from the club due to his earlier activities for the Stuttgart 21 rail project as well as his entrepreneurial activities in connection with the Quattrex company. On September 28, 2016, the German Football League (DFL) announced that it “considered Mr Dietrich's activities as President of VfB Stuttgart to be compatible with the requirements of the league statute”. In the association register of the VfB he has the membership number 836, 1974 is noted as the year of entry.

On October 9, 2016, Dietrich was elected honorary president of the association at the general meeting of VfB Stuttgart. With the decision of the general assembly on June 1, 2017 to spin off the football department, at which 84.2% of the members voted for the sale of up to 24.9% of the shares as well as extensive amendments to the articles of association, the club ended a controversial discussion that had lasted for years . After the spin-off, Dietrich was elected chairman of the supervisory board of VfB Stuttgart 1893 AG. The first anchor investor was Daimler AG, which acquired 11.75 percent of the shares and paid 41.5 million euros for it.

In the first year of Dietrich's term of office, VfB Stuttgart succeeded in returning directly to the Bundesliga in May 2017 with head coach Hannes Wolf, who was appointed by sports director Jan Schindelmeiser .

After the dismissal of sports director Jan Schindelmeiser, Dietrich came under fire in mid-2017. At the beginning of August 2017, Dietrich announced the unanimously decided dismissal of sports director Jan Schindelmeiser and the commitment of his successor Michael Reschke. With sports director Michael Reschke, head coach Hannes Wolf and his successor Tayfun Korkut, who signed on in January 2018, VfB surprisingly reached 7th place in the 1st Bundesliga and only missed qualifying for the UEFA Europa League by one place.

In the 2018/2019 season, VfB could no longer build on these achievements and ended up relegated to the second Bundesliga. Previously, in February 2019, he had separated from Michael Reschke , an expert in sports , and appointed Thomas Hitzlsperger as his successor. In this situation, some of the fans started a campaign against Dietrich, which repeatedly focused on the criticism expressed before the election. This criticism culminated in a total of 65 motions for Wolfgang Dietrich to be voted out of office, which had been properly submitted by registered mail prior to the general meeting on July 14, 2019. However, the turbulent general meeting had to be broken off due to technical problems with the WLAN connection, so a vote on the proposals among the approximately 4500 members present was not possible. The causes have not yet been clarified, the question of guilt will be clarified in a legal dispute between VfB and the provider. The trial is still pending. One day after the general meeting, Dietrich announced his resignation from the office of President at VfB Stuttgart on July 15, 2019. Dietrich also gave up the office of chairman of the supervisory board of VfB Stuttgart AG.

In a total discharge, he and the other board members were discharged 78.4 percent for the year 2016 at the general meeting on December 3, 2017. At the general meeting on June 10, 2018, 91.9 percent of the members voted for the discharge of the presidium and 85.2 percent for the discharge of the new supervisory board of the AG with Dietrich as chairman of the supervisory board. Five months after Dietrich's resignation, an extraordinary general meeting was called on December 15, 2019, at which 79 percent of the VfB members present voted against Dietrich's individual discharge for 2018.

Others

From 1998 to 2007 Dietrich was honorary president of the Bad Liebenzell golf club , after his term of office he was elected honorary chairman of the club by the general assembly. Since 2000 Dietrich has been involved in various social projects in South Africa, where he has had his second residence since then. As of September 2016, he is still chairman of the supervisory board of the management consulting company Concept AG . At various public appearances, he has emphasized that he has never belonged to political parties or associations that are related to parties.

Dietrich is a father of two, he lives with his partner in Stuttgart and Leonberg . The older of his two sons, Christoph, is an entrepreneur. Son Matthias Dietrich is an actor and filmmaker.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f “No leeway for interpretation” . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , No. 141, June 21, 2012, p. 19.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Dietrich, Udo Andriof . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , September 25, 2012, p. 23.
  3. ↑ Project spokesman . In: Schwäbische Zeitung , July 7, 2012, p. 6.
  4. ↑ A place that is more than just old home. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Without a source
  6. ↑ On the person . In: Südkurier , September 25, 2010.
  7. ↑ a b c Erik Raidt: The lies of others . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , July 19, 2011, p. 3 (similar version online ).
  8. ^ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: Stuttgart 21 project spokesman: The guarantee for transparency. Retrieved May 28, 2020 .
  9. ^ Strässle AG: redevelopment plan presented. Software manufacturer must refrain . In: Handelsblatt , No. 10, 1996, p. 13.
  10. ↑ Entrepreneur without party membership . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , July 24, 2012, p. 20.
  11. ↑ Andreas Müller: Talking is silver, silence is gold . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung , February 5, 2011, p. 30.
  12. ↑ Andreas Müller: The guarantee for transparency. February 7, 2011, accessed May 28, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Janek Schmidt: First fund for direct investment in Bundesliga clubs started. September 7, 2016, accessed May 28, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Entry in the commercial register dated December 2016
  15. ↑ Entry in the commercial register dated May 2019
  16. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: Stuttgart 21 spokesman Dietrich: "S 21 still carries the ballast of September 30th". Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Michael Isenberg: Stuttgart 21: Project spokesman Andriof withdraws. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
  18. ^ Association of the Stuttgart – Ulm Railway Project. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
  19. ↑ a b Dietrich withdraws. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. October 8, 2014, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  20. ↑ a b Michael Deufel, Jörg Hamann, Konstantin Schwarz: "S 21 still carries the ballast of September 30th" . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . No. 233 , October 9, 2014, p. 18 ( online ).
  21. ↑ Fabian Ziehe: "Until the project is irreversible" . In: Südwest Presse . December 30, 2014, ZDB -ID 1360527-6 , p. 6 .
  22. ^ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: Stuttgart 21 speaker: Dietrich's term of office is being extended. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Michael Isenberg: S-21 spokesman Dietrich comes under pressure . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , No. 98, April 27, 2012, p. 19 (similar version online ).
  24. ^ Südwest Presse Online-Dienst GmbH: S-21 spokesman Dietrich resigns. October 9, 2014, accessed July 29, 2020 .
  25. ^ Matthias von Herrmann: The so-called project spokesman Wolfgang Dietrich resigns. In: bei-abriss-aufstand.de. October 1, 2014, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Jörg Nauke: buffer stop, fighter - VfB President? In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. August 4, 2016, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  27. ^ DB project Stuttgart – Ulm. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Wolfgang Dietrich is to become the new VfB President ( Memento from October 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Zeitungsverlag Waiblingen online, July 23, 2016.
  29. ^ VfB Stuttgart: Wolfgang Dietrich - a splitter for the VfB. In: SWR.de. September 10, 2016, accessed September 12, 2016 .
  30. ↑ Dirk Preiß: DFL gives the green light for candidate Dietrich . stuttgarter-zeitung.de, September 29, 2016.
  31. ↑ Wolfgang Dietrich, once spokesman for the Stuttgart 21 rail project, is to become VfB President . In: Schwäbisches Tagblatt online . ( tagblatt.de [accessed on January 9, 2018]).
  32. ↑ VfB Stuttgart: Close victory for Dietrich - and a lot of work. In: stuttgarter-zeitung.de. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
  33. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: Spin-off from VfB Stuttgart: Historic decision for VfB. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: VfB Stuttgart: The supervisory board of the AG stands. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Dirk Preiß: Daimler is ready - with 41.5 million euros. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung. April 19, 2017, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  36. ↑ Football Bundesliga: Stuttgart and Hanover manage to rise again . In: The time . May 21, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed December 21, 2017]).
  37. ↑ VfB fans worry: Relapse into bad times? In: echo24.de. August 11, 2017, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  38. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: VfB Stuttgart: VfB separates from Jan Schindelmeiser. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  39. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: VfB Stuttgart: Michael Reschke is the new sports director. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  40. ↑ Football data. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  41. ↑ Oliver Trust: Thomas Hitzlsperger should pacify VfB Stuttgart. In: waz.de. February 13, 2019, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  42. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: VfB Stuttgart: Members can vote on Dietrich. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  43. ↑ dpa: Wifi is on strike, cancellation and new date in mid-September. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung online. July 14, 2019, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  44. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: General meeting of VfB Stuttgart: Dispute over WLAN breakdown ends up in court. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  45. ^ VfB President Dietrich resigns. In: sport1.de. July 15, 2019, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  46. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: General meeting at VfB Stuttgart: Those were the highlights of the meeting. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  47. ↑ The general meeting in the process. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  48. ^ Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart Germany: VfB Stuttgart: The most important events of the general meeting. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  49. ↑ The general meeting in the process. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  50. ^ No discharge for former VfB President Wolfgang Dietrich. In: swr.de. December 15, 2019, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  51. ↑ a b Michael Schmidt: "We will inspire even more" . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , Leonberg regional edition, October 2, 2012, p. I. (similar version online ).
personal data
SURNAME Dietrich, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, spokesman for the Stuttgart – Ulm rail project
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Stetten (Kernen in the Remstal)