Hartmut Mehdorn (born 31 July 1942 in Warsaw) is a German manager and mechanical engineer. Until May 2009 he was CEO of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

, Germany's biggest railway company. He was CEO of Germany's second largest airline Air Berlin until he stepped down in January 2013. In March 2013 he assumed a CEO position at

Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH, commonly abbreviated FBB, is a German airport operator. It operates Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) and previously operated Berlin Tegel Airport, Tegel and Berlin Schön ...

(FBB), the owner and future operator of

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport () () is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the Germany, German capital and state of Berlin, in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the former Mayor of West Berlin, West Berlin mayor and Chance ...

, until March 2015.

Education

After studying mechanical engineering at

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

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

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

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 is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

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

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

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

Deutsche Bahn AG (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

in Berlin from the end of 1999 until he offered his resignation to the supervisory board on March 30, 2009. In September 2011 Mehrdorn took over the position of CEO at Germany's second largest airline Air Berlin, where he had already been on the board of non-executive directors for almost two years.

Other activities

* Russian Railways (RZD), Member of the Board of Directors (2011–2018)

Personal life

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 (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

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 ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 2004.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehdorn, Hartmut 1942 births Living people Engineers from Warsaw Technische Universität Berlin alumni 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