Norbert Reithofer (born 29 May 1956 in

Penzberg Penzberg (; Central Bavarian: ''Benschberg'') is a city (although some see it as a town) in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located about 50 km south of Munich, and had a population of around 17,000 in 2020. A histo ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

) is a German businessman and former chairman of the board of management (CEO) of BMW. He currently serves as chairman of the supervisory board.

Early life and education

After finishing his Fachabitur, Reithofer graduated in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

at the

Munich University of Applied Sciences The Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) (german: Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften München) was founded in 1971 and is the largest university of applied sciences in Bavaria with about 17,800 students. The Munich University of App ...

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 ...

. He then moved on to the

Technical University Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

to study Engineering and

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. After graduation, he became research assistant at the university at the Institute for Machine Tools and Business Administration of

Joachim Milberg Joachim Milberg (born 10 April 1943 in Verl (Westfalen)) is a German engineer and manager who served as CEO of Bayerischen Motorenwerke AG (BMW). He was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW until July 2015. Milberg was Professor and Dean o ...

, under whom he gained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

Career

In 1987, Reithofer joined BMW as head of maintenance planning. From 1991 to 1994 he was director of the Body in White Production Division. From 1994 to 1997 Reithofer then became Technical Director of BMW South Africa. From 1997 to 2000, Reithofer was president BMW Manufacturing Corporation (USA), based in

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Offi ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. In March 2000, Reithofer returned to Munich to join the BMW Board of Management, responsible for production. In 2002, Reithofer and Development Chief Burkhard Goeschel halved the standard BMW time it took to reach full production of the new generation E90 3 Series, from six months to three. On 1 September 2006 he succeeded

Helmut Panke Helmut is a German name. Variants include Hellmut, Helmuth, and Hellmuth. From old German, the first element deriving from either ''heil'' ("healthy") or ''hiltja'' ("battle"), and the second from ''muot'' ("spirit, mind, mood"). Helmut may refer ...

as chairman of the board and CEO of BMW. Reithofer stepped down early in May 2015 and was replaced by Harald Krüger; instead, he moved to the non-executive role of chairman of the supervisory board. At the time, critics held the move would go against general corporate governance practice as there was no cooling-off period between the two roles.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

, Member of the supervisory board (since 2015) *

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organ ...

, Member of the Shareholders‘ Committee (since 2011) *

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. Th ...

, Member of Joint Advisory Council (since 2007)

Non-profit organizations

* Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

, Member of the Senate

Awards and honours

* 2005: Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold (Grosses Goldenes Ehrenzeichen) for Services to the Republic of Austria (2005) * 2010: Bayerischen Verdienstorden * 2012 Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur

References

External links

Interview with Autoweek on gaining CEO's position
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reithofer, Norbert 1956 births Living people Technical University of Munich alumni German chief executives Chief executives in the automobile industry BMW people Directors of BMW Knights of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria