Hartmut Mehdorn (born 31 July 1942 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

) is a German manager and mechanical engineer. Until May 2009 he served as CEO of

Deutsche Bahn AG 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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

's biggest railway company. He served as CEO of

's second largest airline

Air Berlin Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...

until he stepped down in January 2013. In March 2013 he assumed a

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 ...

position at Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB), the owner and future operator of

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport ''Willy Brandt'' (german: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt", , ) is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the German capital Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the former ...

, until March 2015.

Education

After studying mechanical engineering at

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

, he joined the construction development section of Focke-Wulf in Bremen.

Career

From 1966 to 1978, Mehdorn worked for what later became known as the "Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke-Fokker GmbH", his last position being that of production head at the "Nordwerke" of MBB (

Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a West German aerospace manufacturer. It was formed during the late 1960s as the result of efforts to consolidate the West German aerospace industry; aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt AG merged with the ci ...

). From 1979 to 1984, he was a member of the management of

Airbus 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: '' ...

Industrie S.A. in Toulouse, France, where he was responsible for production, purchasing, and quality assurance. Between 1984 and 1989, Mehdorn was head of the 'MBB Transport- und Verkehrsflugzeuge' group in Hamburg and from 1985 was also a member of the MBB management team in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. From 1989 to 1992, Mehdorn had a joint function as chairman of Deutsche Airbus GmbH in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and, from 1992 to 1995, he was a member of the board of Deutsche Aerospace AG in Munich where he was responsible for the aviation corporate division. He was then chairman of the board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG from 1997 to 1999, and, from 1998 to 1999, was also a member of the board of RWE where he was responsible for industrial holdings. Hartmut Mehdorn was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of

in Berlin from the end of 1999 until he offered his resignation to the supervisory board on March 30, 2009. In September 2011 he took over the position of CEO at Germany's second largest airline

, where he had already been on the Board of non-executive directors for almost two years.

Personal details

Mehdorn is married to Frenchwoman Hélène Mehdorn (née ''Vuillequez'') and has three grown-up children, two sons and a daughter. He said in an interview that he speaks English with his wife because they did not know each other's languages when they met and fell in love during Mehdorn's assignment in Toulouse. His wife speaks French with the children and he speaks German with them. Mehdorn was on the board of Stiftung Lesen. He received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

in 1982 for his work with Airbus. Mehdorn also became a Commander of the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

in 2004.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehdorn, Hartmut 1942 births Living people Engineers from Warsaw Air Berlin Deutsche Bahn people German businesspeople in transport Engineers from Bremen (state) Businesspeople from Berlin German airline chief executives Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany