SMS Group announces new CEO and CFO appointments
June 30, 2023
SMS Group, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, has announced that it is implementing a generational change at the top level of management. From October 1, 2023, Jochen Burg, who has been with SMS since 2008 and currently acts as Executive Vice President Technical Service, will become CEO and Chair of the SMS Managing Board. He will be taking over from Burkhard Dahmen who has been chair for the past eleven years and with the company for a total of thirty-three years.
Jochen Burg shared, ‟I am very much looking forward to continuing the success story of SMS group together with my colleagues on the managing board. We have set a clear course for the years ahead. We have the best preconditions and, above all, great team members all over the world, so that together we can achieve our ambitious goals.”
Additionally, Fabíola Fernandez will join the company on October 10, 2023, and assume the role of CFO on the Managing Board on January 1, 2024. She will be taking over from Torsten Heising who was appointed CFO in 2017 after holding various management positions at SMS since 2006. Fabíola will be joining from Gegenbauer SE & Co. KG, a facility management service company, where she currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and co-CEO.
Fernandez added, ‟SMS group has very exciting and promising years ahead. There are not many companies that are able to significantly shape the transformation of an entire industry and I am, therefore, all the more excited to be part of this important challenge and to use my experience to ensure a successful and profitable future for the company.”
Edwin Eichler, Chair of the Supervisory Board of SMS group, commented, ‟Burkhard Dahmen and Torsten Heising have made a major contribution to gearing SMS group towards the future. In view of the good market situation, now is the ideal time to actively shape this generational change and also to usher in a new era. Jochen Burg and Fabíola Fernandez are the ideal fit for this. Together, we intend to focus on the systematic expansion of our service business, the further technological development of our plants and equipment, and the optimisation of our performance.”
“My sincere thanks go to Burkhard Dahmen and Torsten Heising who have devoted their professional lives to SMS group and, in doing so, have played a tremendous role in successfully shaping and growing the company, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. I wish Burkhard Dahmen and Torsten Heising all the very best for the future,” Eichler concluded.
