Jürgen Wolfgang Maier or Juergen Wolfgang Maier (born 1964) is a British-Austrian businessman who is the chair of

Great British Energy Great British Energy (shortened to GB Energy or GBE) is a British government-owned renewable energy investment body that was formed as part of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's plans for energy policy. GBE will invest in renewable energy ...

. He has been an advisor to the UK government, and from 2014 to 2019 was chief executive of

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

UK.

Early life and education

Maier was born in Germany, but holds Austrian and British citizenship. He lived in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. He came to the UK in 1974, to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, where he went to school at Allerton Grange School, from 1978. He studied Production Engineering at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham (now

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

) from 1982 to 1986.

Career

Maier is the Chair of the Digital Catapult and co-founder of vocL, a platform empowering responsible business voices. He also supports development in northern regions and in that capacity is vice-Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and life time President for the North West Business Leadership Team. Maier has occupied senior posts with Siemens, including managing director of UK and Ireland industry sector and Manufacturing Director of the Drives Factory in

Congleton Congleton is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 28,497 and the built-up area ha ...

, Cheshire. He became a member of the Siemens UK Executive Management Board in October 2008, and was appointed Chief Executive on 1 July 2014. He retired in December 2019 at the age of 55.

Honours

Maier is a Fellow of the

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871,Engin ...

(IET) and the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

, and is a visiting professor at the University of Manchester; he has also received Honorary Doctorates from the

University of Salford The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

, the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

, the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

and

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

and, most recently, from

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

. He was a non-executive board member of the

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Gordon Brown premiership on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Uni ...

(BIS) of the UK government from 2014 to 2016 and led the 'Made Smarter' industrial strategy review and initiative which aimed to create a strong 4th Industrial Revolution in the UK. He was a member of the Industrial Strategy Council which provides impartial and expert advice to government. In 2019, ''Insider Magazine'' named Maier as the most influential business person in North West England. He was ranked number 5 in

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, operated by the company of the same name. In 2018, the company was acquired by the Japanese company Recruit Holdings (owner of Indeed) for US$1. ...

's Top CEOs for 2019. In July 2024 he was appointed as the chairman of

, a government-owned body which promotes investment in renewable energy production.

Personal life

Maier was appointed

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

and was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maier, Jurgen 1964 births Living people Alumni of Nottingham Trent University Austrian chief executives Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Leeds Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society Siemens people Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering