Augsburg, 26 July 2013 – The aeronautics supplier Premium AEROTEC is concluding the renewal of its management: Dr Christoph Hoppe (50) is to become the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will assume his new role in the course of September and will, in future, be responsible for the strategic and operational goals of Europe’s largest supplier of aerostructures.
Günter Butschek, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Premium AEROTEC, stated: “With Christoph Hoppe, Premium AEROTEC gains an experienced manager who has already proven his worth outstandingly in highly diverse positions. Hoppe is in the best position in terms of personal prerequisites and can build on extensive experience of both the civil and military activities of our group. The main task of the renewed and highly competent management team will be to further enhance Premium AEROTEC’s high performance capabilities and to restore profitability.”
Since 2009 Christoph Hoppe has been Head of Human Resources of EADS’ defence Division, Cassidian, and labour director of EADS Deutschland GmbH. He previously worked for Airbus, from 1999 onwards: Initially his focus lay on the strategy and corporate development of Airbus in Germany, and from summer 2000 he was in charge of development and production planning in the operations area of Airbus in Toulouse. In the course of the Airbus integration, around 35,000 employees from development, production, IT and quality had to be incorporated into an organisation spanning four countries.
At the end of 2002 he assumed operational responsibility for the development and series production of Airbus cabin equipment and simultaneously held the position of CEO of the then subsidiary Aircabin in Laupheim, Germany. The emphases here lay on reducing costs and increasing efficiency, including by comprehensively revising all business processes at Aircabin. From 2006 he represented the EADS Group as the Head of Political Affairs Germany.
“Managing a company with aircraft manufacturing sites such rich in tradition represents a particular challenge to which I am greatly looking forward. Setting clear targets, having the courage to make changes, teamwork and social dialogue are at the very top of my list of priorities. That’s the best foundation for business success, even in difficult times,” said Christoph Hoppe, future CEO of Premium AEROTEC.
Hoppe studied at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and began his professional career in 1989 at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP); in 1992, he became a consultant for foreign and security policy, initially on the planning staff of the CDU/CSU parliamentary faction. From 1993 he was a speaker in the German Federal Chancellery, and he commenced his industrial career in April 1995 as the Head of Marketing for Europe at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa), a predecessor company of EADS.
Dr Christoph Hoppe, together with Michael Colberg (Chief Operations Officer), Dr Lars Kästle (Chief Financial Officer), Joachim Nägele (Head of Programmes and Sales) and Marco Wagner (Head of Human Resources), will constitute the future management of Premium AEROTEC.
Premium AEROTEC generated revenues of around 1.5 billion euros in 2012. The company’s core business lies in the development and production of metal and carbon fibre composite aircraft structures, as well as the associated equipment and production systems. The company has manufacturing sites in Augsburg, Bremen, Nordenham and Varel in Germany, as well as in Bras ov in Romania. For further information see: www.premium-aerotec.com.
