Business News
Kasper Rorsted new Chairman of Henkels Management Board
Tuesday 22. April 2008 - Effective the end of Henkels 2008 Annual General Meeting, Kasper Rorsted is the new Chairman of the Management Board.
Having reached the internally agreed age of retirement, his predecessor, Ulrich Lehner, resigned as of the same date. Lehner was appointed Chairman back in May 2000 and, with a brief interruption, had been with Henkel since 1981. He will, however, remain closely associated with the company as a member of its Shareholders Committee.
Kasper Rorsted is the new Chairman of the Henkel Management Board. Henkel announced that the 46-year-old Dane was to be the successor of Ulrich Lehner as Henkel Chairman back in December 2006. Having taken this decision at an early stage, Henkel was able to continue the good tradition of providing employees, customers, business partners and participants in the capital markets early planning security. For all stakeholders, this decision means a high degree of continuity in the areas of corporate culture, people management and sustainable business development.
“Ulrich Lehner has been a major force in driving Henkels internationality and profitability. By realigning our focus to our brands and technologies, he set the direction for the continuous successful development of Henkel,” commented Albrecht Woeste, Chairman of both the Shareholders Committee and the Supervisory Board at Henkel, in thanking the departing Chairman for the outstanding contribution he made to the company during his long tenure. Woeste went on: “I am sure that Kasper Rorsted will go on to add further chapters to Henkels success story.”
Rorsted, who has been with Henkel since April 2005, will be the companys first Chairman from outside the German-speaking area. He is also the first Chairman of Henkels newly constituted Management Board. Effective the end of todays Annual General Meeting, the newly founded Henkel Management AG joined Henkel KGaA as its sole personally liable partner. Henkel KGaA will in the future operate under the name of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA. The Management Board of Henkel Management AG comprises the same executives who made up the former Management Board of the KGaA – with the exception of Prof. Dr. Lehner – with Kasper Rorsted as Chairman. Ulrich Lehner will hand over his office to Kasper Rorsted tonight at an evening function with 250 invited guests.
“I am very much looking forward to the tasks ahead of me. Henkel is an internationally successful company with strong, well-known brands,” commented Kasper Rorsted. “I see it as my duty to continue driving Henkel forward to success. This will mean continuously and consistently augmenting our many and varied strengths. One of the main focal points for 2008 will be the integration of the Adhesives and Electronic Materials businesses acquired from National Starch.”
Kasper Rorsted already has a successful career behind him, having occupied senior positions in the international managements of Digital, Oracle, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. Before joining the Henkel Management Board, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager at Hewlett Packard responsible for the Europe, Middle East & Africa operation, which accounted for some 40,000 employees and annual sales of around 20 billion euros. When Kasper Rorsted joined the Henkel Management Board in April 2005, he assumed responsibility for Human Resources, Purchasing, IT and Infrastructure Services. In January 2007, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Management Board.
In addition to Danish, Rorsted also speaks English, German and Swedish. He is married with four children.