Osnabrück - As of 1 January 2017, there will be a number of changes to the management team of the Osnabrück-based Felix Schoeller Group, one of the leading manufacturers of specialty papers. They are connected with the handover from one generation to the next, which will be completed in mid-2018. The company has now given details of the specific changes.

Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp, who became deputy CEO of the Felix Schoeller Group on 1 January 2015, has been appointed chief operating officer (COO) and will take up his post on 1 January 2017. Gallenkamp is the fifth generation to represent the family in this company, which is still 100 percent family-owned.

Stephan Igel and Georg Haggenmüller were appointed as executive vice-presidents of Felix Schoeller Holding with effect from 1 January 2017. They have both been with the company for a number of years, during which time they have held various management positions. In his position of chief sales officer (CSO), Stephan Igel will be responsible for the Technocell Division, including its decor paper and nonwoven product lines whereas, as chief manufacturing officer (CMO), Georg Haggenmüller will be in charge of production at all the company’s mills.

These appointments mean that the management board of the Felix Schoeller Holding will consist of Dr Bernhard Klofat (CEO), Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp (COO), Peter Cornelissen (CFO), Guido Hofmeyer (CSO for the Felix Schoeller Division), Stephan Igel (CSO for the Technocell Division) and Georg Haggenmüller (CMO).

Gerhard Hochstein joined the company on 1 April 2016. He is executive vice-president of Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG and, in his role as chief technology officer (CTO), he is responsible for the research & development, engineering, energy management and intellectual property/patents departments.

“With the organisational changes due to take effect in the New Year, we have taken a decisive step towards making provision for succession in the company. We will begin by working within this structure until mid-2018 when Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp will take on the baton and become the company’s new CEO,” Dr Bernhard Klofat, the company's current CEO, explains.

Profiles

Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp has been with the company since 1997. He has a degree in paper engineering from TU Darmstadt and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), which he gained under the University of Toronto’s programme for working professionals. Milestones in his career with the Felix Schoeller Group include his job on paper machine 1 (PM1) at the Osnabrück mill and later his position as head of raw materials management in the extrusion process at the Osnabrück mill. Between 1999 and 2001, Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp was in charge of specialty base paper production at the Schoeller Group’s American mill in Pulaski/NY. From 2002 onwards, he was chief operating officer of the Technocell Division with its two business units - Technocell Dekor and Technocell Vlies. This position included responsibility for marketing, sales and technology. As chief technical officer (CTO) Gallenkamp has been on the management board of Felix Schoeller Holding since October 2012. He was appointed deputy CEO of the Osnabrück-based Felix Schoeller Group, taking up his post on 1 January 2015.

Stephan Igel joined Felix Schoeller in 1992 after gaining his degree in business administration. In 1996, after four years in the finance, taxation and investor relations department, he took over the post of external accounts manager. In 2001, he became commercial director of Technocell, responsible principally for financial controlling and acquisitions. In particular, he was in charge of the acquisition of the company’s Canadian mill in Drummondville. In 2003, he was appointed executive vice-president of Technocell, and turned his attention, among other things, to the acquisition and integration of the Russian joint venture in Penza. Since 2011, he has also been responsible for global purchasing for the Felix Schoeller Group.

On 1 October 2012 Stephan Igel and Georg Haggenmüller took over the management of the Technocell Division within Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG. Igel has been responsible for sales across the entire Technocell Division since mid-2016.

Georg Haggenmüller’s career began in 1983 at MD Papierfabrik Günzach, a mill which was later to become part of Technocell AG. He followed up his apprenticeship as a papermaker with further professional training and then went on to gain a degree in business studies. In 1998, he became manager of the Günzach mill. For several years his responsibilities included technical oversight of Technocell’s Canadian mill. In 2008, he took on additional responsibility for Technocell’s mills in Neustadt and Penig. On 1 October 2012, Georg Haggenmüller and Stephan Igel took over the management of the Technocell Division within Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG. During the course of that year, Haggenmüller gradually took over responsibility for production across the entire Felix Schoeller Group, i.e. including the Felix Schoeller Division.

Gerhard Hochstein trained in the printing industry and then gained a degree in printing engineering. He joined Interprint GmbH, Arnsberg, in 1995 and worked there for a number of years in various management posts, including international positions. In 2012, he set up a consultancy firm Terra Incognita Innovationsmanagement GmbH, which specialised in innovation management. He has been executive vice-president of Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG and, in his role as chief technology officer (CTO), he is responsible for the research & development, engineering, energy management and intellectual property/patents departments.