Peter_Loescher

Peter Löscher

Peter Löscher

Austrian manager (born 1957)


Peter Löscher (born 17 September 1957 in Villach, Austria) is an Austrian manager who was the CEO of Siemens from 2007 until 2013. As of 2017, Löscher remains as the only CEO to be hired from outside the conglomerate in the 170-year history of Siemens.[1] Before joining Siemens, he worked as president for Global Human Health at global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.

Quick Facts

Early life and education

Löscher graduated from Gymnasium Villach/Austria in 1978 and got a master's degree at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Later he attended but did not obtain a degree from an MBA program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and attended the six-week Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School. In 2007 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering from Michigan State University.[2]

Career

Early career

Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens, with Maria Bartiromo, the television journalist, at the FT CNBC Davos Nightcap, 26th January 2012.

From 1988 until 2000 he worked for the German pharmaceutical company Hoechst in Spain, Japan, Great Britain and the United States. After Hoechst merged with Rhone-Poulenc he stayed at Aventis until 2002.[3] He then joined Amersham, which was taken over by General Electric. In 2006 he became a member of the executive board of the US pharmaceutical company Merck.[4][citation needed]

Siemens

In 2007 Löscher became the first CEO of Siemens AG to be appointed from outside the company.[5] He was appointed on 20 May 2007 as the successor of Klaus Kleinfeld, and was selected to take on the new position on 1 July 2007.[6] Under Löscher, Siemens spun off its Osram lighting unit and sold its half of a joint venture with Nokia that supplied equipment for mobile telecommunication networks.[7] In 2012, he earned 8.7 million euros.[8] In late 2012, he initiated efforts to save 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion) over the following two years.[9]

In his capacity as CEO, Löscher accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel on various state visits, including to China in 2012.[10]

Following a series of missteps under his leadership, including a late delivery of high-speed ICE trains for German national railroad Deutsche Bahn and delays in completing offshore wind turbine projects,[11] he was replaced by Joe Kaeser (Josef Käser) as CEO and left Siemens in July 2013,[12] four years before the end of his contract.[13]

Later career

Under the terms of his pay-off of 17 million euros from Siemens,[14] Löscher was obliged not to work for a "significant competitor" of the company until September 2015.

In 2014, Löscher was hired by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg to serve as chief executive of Renova Management (RMAG), which oversees his international industrial holdings, including stakes in Sulzer and in Oerlikon.[15] He left Renova in 2016, amid disagreements with Vekselberg.[16]

Also in 2014, Russian Railways (RZD) nominated Löscher as member of the company’s board of directors;[17] however, he ultimately wasn’t considered.[18]

In Munich, Löscher shares an office with Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Paul Achleitner, Michael Diekmann and Joachim Faber.[19]

Other activities

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations

Personal life

Löscher speaks German, English, French, Spanish, and Japanese.[37] He and his Spanish-born wife have three children. According to an interview in The New York Times, Löscher was the captain of the volleyball team at high school and college.[38]


References

  1. Siemens Archived 17 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Merck Names Peter Loescher to Newly Created Position of President, Global Human Health; Health Care Industry Veteran with Broad Global Experience to Lead Merck's Marketing and Sales Operations Worldwide". www.businesswire.com. 3 April 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  3. Angela Monaghan (29 July 2013). "Siemens chief executive, Peter Loescher, heading for the exit". theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  4. Jack Ewing (28 July 2013). "Siemens to Oust Chief After String of Setbacks". The New York Times.
  5. Chris Bryant and Arash Massoudi (18 September 2014), Ex-chief poses dilemma for Siemens Financial Times.
  6. Henning Peitsmeier and Klaus Max Smolka (22 May 2017), Die geheime Machtzentrale in München Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  7. Axel Höpner, Yasmin Osman and Hans-Peter Siebenhaar (14 March 2017), Ex-Siemens-Chef zieht sich aus Deutschland zurück Handelsblatt.
  8. Patricia Laya (2 August 2011). "As Soon As You Believe That You Are On Top Of The Game, You Probably Have Lost It". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.

Further reading

Preceded by CEO of Siemens
2007 31 July 2013
Succeeded by

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