Rüdiger Grube (born 2 August 1951) is a German engineer who served as the chairman of the board of

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

from 2009 until 2017 and as the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

EADS Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

from 2007 until 2009.

Early life

Grube was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1951. He grew up on a farm. After technical training in metal aircraft construction, he went on to study automotive engineering and aircraft construction at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, graduating as a qualified engineer. He studied vocational and business teaching there also at a later date. Between 1981 and 1986, he taught in production and engineering at the university, before completing a doctorate in industrial science and polytechnology.

Career

Grube started his career in 1989 at Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and went on to work in a number of posts at DaimlerBenz including senior vice president and head of corporate strategy. He also worked for

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

. On April 25, 2009, Grube signed a five-year contract to become

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Deutsche Bahn AG, starting from May 1, 2009. The company at the time had been hit very hard by the recession and was facing questions over some of its technology-based decisions. Grube announced cuts at the firm. In 2015, after the longest driver strike in the company's history, Grube launched another restructuring to cut costs and modernize the rail system. That year the company recorded a €1.3 billion net loss, despite a slight rise in revenue to nearly €41 billion, a record at the time.Patrick McGee (January 30, 2017)
Deutsche Bahn chief quits after dispute with board over pay
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''. Between 2013 and 2017, Grube accompanied

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

on a total of three state visits abroad. In January 2017, Grube stepped down over disagreements concerning the extension of his contract which would have expired at the end of the year. The board had been prepared to offer Grube a two-year renewal of his contract, but he was seeking a three-year extension as well as a pay rise. When the board members would not agree on this, he offered his resignation. CFO Richard Lutz became acting CEO. In July 2017, financial advisory firm and asset manager

Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's lar ...

appointed Grube as chairman of investment banking in Germany. In addition, he serves as a director for

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

McLaren Group The McLaren Group is a British holding company based in Woking, England, which is involved in Formula One and other motorsport and the manufacture of luxury cars. The group was founded by Ron Dennis shortly after his acquisition of the McLaren ...

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

and also serves as a non-executive director for

Other activities

Corporate boards

Vossloh Vossloh AG is a rail technology company based in Werdohl in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The SDAX-listed group has achieved sales of around €930 million in 2016 with more than 4,000 employees (as of 2017). Vossloh is a global ...

, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) *

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

, Chairman of the Supervisory Board (since 2019) * RIB Software, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2018) *

HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (abbreviated HHLA), known until 2005 as ''Hamburger Hafen- und Lagerhaus-Aktiengesellschaft'', and prior to that as ''Hamburger Freihafen-Lagerhaus Gesellschaft'' (HFLG) since 1885, is a German logistics and transpo ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2017) * Paul Schockemöhle Logistics Gruppe, Member of the Advisory Board * Deufol, Member of the Supervisory Board *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Member of the Advisory Board *

Herrenknecht Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines, headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg. It is the worldwide market leader for heavy tunnel boring machines. Roughly two-thirds of its 5,000 employ ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (-2020)

Non-profit organizations

German Cancer Research Center The German Cancer Research Center (known as the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum or simply DKFZ in German) is a national cancer research center based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, ...

(DKFZ), Member of the Advisory Council * Federation of German Industries (BDI), Member of the Presidium (2011–2012) * Alexander Otto Sports Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * "Deutschland rundet auf", Member of the Board of Trustees * Haus Rissen, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft – or Stifterverband for short – is a registered not-for-profit association that is based in Essen and which also has a capital city office in Berlin. Its work is focused on education, science and inn ...

, Member of the Board * Deutsche Nationalstiftung, Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
Deutsche Nationalstiftung.

Personal life

From his first marriage Grube has a son and a daughter. On 8 August 2015 he married chef Cornelia Poletto (born 1971).

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

, then Germany's foreign minister, was best man.

References

External links

''Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Chairman and CEO of DB AG''
Deutsche Bahn corporate website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grube, Rudiger 1951 births Living people Businesspeople from Hamburg German businesspeople in transport Deutsche Bahn people