voestalpine AG faces the challenges arising from the Group’s increasingly international activities with a much younger team. Franz Michael Androsch, who succeeds Peter Schwab, is an expert of international repute and becomes Head of Group’s R&D – Research and development. Born in the USA, the chemist started his career at voestalpine in 1984, in product and process development in Linz. He later moved to Quality Assurance Cold-rolled Strip/Processing and was most recently Head of the Research and development Department for this sector. In future, the 52-year old will be in charge of a record research budget of over EUR 150 million, with around 760 R&D staff worldwide.
Corporate Development, the Group’s strategic core, is now headed by 40-year old Mathias Farthofer. After eleven years at the BMW Group, with management functions in Munich including controlling development performance and long-term corporate planning and budgeting, he moved to the voestalpine AG Steel Division in 2013 where he ran the Strategy Department. Farthofer now takes over as Head of Corporate Development from Michael Eyett, who becomes Chief Procurement Officer (CPO). In future, Eyett will be responsible for Group’s strategic control of material and services purchasing. Michael Eyett is a British citizen. He was born in Bermuda and grew up in England, Australia, and Germany. He studied physics in Germany, receiving his doctorate from the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. Eyett’s professional experience includes key positions at the Mannesmann Group in Düsseldorf before joining the voestalpine Group in 1999 as Head of Corporate Development, a position he held until his current promotion.
At the beginning of the current business year on April 1, 2014, 40-year old lawyer Christian Kaufmann was promoted to Head of the Legal Department, M&A and Compliance. A native of Linz, in 2002, after completing his degree and gaining further qualifications, Kaufmann began his career at voestalpine AG in the Legal Department where he was responsible for mergers & acquisitions, capital market law, financing and compliance. Kaufmann has also been the Group’s leading Compliance Officer since 2012. In his new position he succeeds Hubert Possegger who was promoted to the Board of the Metal Engineering Division in spring 2014.
The Environmental Affairs Department has been headed by Johann Prammer since April 1, 2014. Having invested a total of EUR 2.4 billion in this sector over the past ten years alone, the voestalpine Group is the international industry leader in this field. Prammer replaces Hannes Sigmund who has retired after 42 years working for the Group. After obtaining his degree in mechanical engineering, Prammer (51) came to voestalpine in 1984 to work in process technology. After several external years as a consultant for process and environmental technology, he returned to voestalpine in 2004, this time to the Environmental Affairs. His task is to further extend the Group’s position as a leader in environmental matters.