Change on the Supervisory Board of GEA

The Düsseldorf Local Court has appointed Professor Annette G. Köhler (53) to the Supervisory Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft effective October 1, 2020. The recognized expert in German and international accounting has been teaching accounting, auditing and controlling at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2005. She will succeed Hartmut Eberlein (68), who is resigning from his position effective September 30, 2020. It is planned that Professor Köhler will stand for election at the Annual General Meeting on November 26, 2020.

“After a professional career spanning 42 years, over a third of which was spent at GEA, I would like to retire from active business life,” is how Hartmut Eberlein outlined his decision. 

“It is with great regret that the Supervisory Board accepts Hartmut Eberlein’s decision. My colleagues and I on the Supervisory Board would like to thank him for our cooperation in a spirit of mutual trust and his many years of dedicated service to GEA. Since 2005, first as CFO and from 2009 as a member of the Supervisory Board, Hartmut Eberlein has brought his outstanding expertise to shaping the development of GEA,” said Dr. Helmut Perlet, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of GEA Group AG.

“In Professor Köhler, our Supervisory Board is gaining a highly experienced specialist in the fields of accounting, international corporate governance and auditing. Moreover, her membership of supervisory bodies at other companies means that she is already very familiar with the tasks associated with this role. In light of Professor Köhler’s extensive financial expertise, the Supervisory Board intends to also appoint her as Chair of its Audit Committee, a position that will become vacant following Hartmut Eberlein’s departure. I am convinced that her experience makes her ideally equipped to continue Mr. Eberlein’s successful work, both as a member of the Supervisory Board and as Chair of the Audit Committee,” commented Dr. Helmut Perlet.

The current shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board have been elected to serve until the end of the 2021 Annual General Meeting. With the appointment of Professor Annette G. Köhler, the Supervisory Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft will comprise six women and six men from October 2020.