With the approval of the supervisory board, on 6 February 2009 Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann (56), president and CEO of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), will hand his financial remit to Helge Hansen (61), a respected banker and business economist. Hansen, who was appointed managing director of Metronic AG (now KBA-Metronic) in July 2003, successfully restructured the company following its acquisition by KBA in 2004. 

Along with the rest of the press engineering industry and most exporters, KBA has experienced a collapse in sales over the past year in the wake of the global financial and economic meltdown. The appointment of a new executive vice-president for finances (CFO) to this SDAX-listed company – the world’s first and oldest press manufacturer – is a response to the mounting challenges posed by risk management, financial dealings with banks, and customer financing.

When Bolza-Schünemann was appointed president and CEO of KBA in June 2003, finances were added to his existing responsibilities of product development and human resources at KBA’s sheetfed operation in Radebeul, near Dresden. The transfer of his financial remit will give him more time to focus on the long-term strategic realignment of the entire KBA group in the international marketplace. This will entail a consolidation of the sheetfed division, which has been particularly hard hit by the global crisis.

Helge Hansen, KBA’s new CFO, is well qualified for his new position, having spent his entire career in finance. After taking his school-leaving certificate Hansen completed an apprenticeship at Commerzbank in his home city of Hamburg. In 1971 he graduated from the University of Hamburg with a degree in business economics. There followed a year expanding his knowledge of international finance on secondment to law firms in London. On his return to Commerzbank Hansen handled export financing as head of department from 1972 to 1980. In 1980 he moved into industry, gaining valuable experience as director of finances and accounting at the Salzgitter group and as managing director of two affiliated companies. From 1988 to 1999 he headed the Feinfocus group, a mid-cap start-up with a number of domestic and foreign plants producing non-destructive radiography testing equipment. Hansen first came into contact with KBA In June 2003, when he was appointed managing director of what was later to become KBA-Metronic. Prior to that, at the request of the lending banks he had successfully turned around a number of stricken businesses in the print media, construction and service sectors.