Unscheduled change at the head of ZF

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Board of Directors decided on the change and immediately elected 62-year-old Breidenbach as the new chairman. Former Thyssenkrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger (64) was thus only the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ZF for three years.

ZF announced last summer that it would cut up to 14,000 jobs in Germany – primarily in the ‘Electrified Powertrain Technologies’ division. It is in charge of electric drives, as well as the transmission business, both for plug-in hybrids and conventional combustion engines. However, in mid-February it became known that ZF was looking into completely spinning off the ‘Electrified Powertrain Technologies’ division – and thus its core business.

The change at the top of the Board of Directors thus comes at a critical time for the German company. The group is looking for partners for some of its divisions, and is also burdened with high debts. Breidenbach has been a member of the ZF Board of Directors since 2023, so he is familiar with the challenges facing the company.

And it is precisely these challenges that are apparently behind the change: Hiesinger already stated internally that, due to personal reasons, he would not be available for a second term after March 2028. Since not all of the major strategic decisions for ZF will have been implemented by then, Hiesinger is said to have offered to vacate the position early to avoid a change in the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board in the decisive phase in 2028. However, reports also criticise Hiesinger’s performance in office, saying that he did not put enough pressure on the Board of Management in critical situations.

“After careful consideration and in close consultation, the two ZF shareholders, the Zeppelin and Ulderup Foundation, have accepted the offer,” says Simon Blümcke, Mayor of Friedrichshafen and, in his official capacity, Chairman of the Zeppelin Foundation, which owns 93.8 per cent of ZF. “We are very grateful to Dr Hiesinger for the opportunity to hand over the leadership of the supervisory board at an early stage.” And: “The members of the supervisory board thank Dr Hiesinger for his outstanding work and achievements as chairman of the supervisory and controlling body.”

The German Handelsblatt views Breidenbach’s appointment as the “first major decision of Friedrichshafen’s new mayor.” The independent politician has a great deal of influence at ZF through the Zeppelin Foundation. However, the Breidenbach appointment is also a sensitive one: the mechanical engineer previously worked for the management consultancy McKinsey – just like ZF CEO Holger Klein, his head of strategy Graciana Petersen, and head of HR Lea Corzilius. And McKinsey currently advises ZF on its planned billion-euro savings programme.

While it is still unclear whether and how McKinsey’s past will influence Breidenbach’s term at ZF, it is already clear who is to take over Heinrich Hiesinger’s supervisory board mandate: Ingrid Jägering will be elected to the board at the next annual general meeting. She is currently responsible for finance and IT at the Stihl Group in Waiblingen.

handelsblatt.com, automobilwoche.de (both in German)