After a very successful financial year 2023 with an order intake of 3.2 billion euros (+12.6 percent compared to the previous year) and sales of 2.9 billion euros (+14.5 percent) – both record values – Körber is now creating the prerequisites for further worldwide innovation-driven growth. In the new leadership structure adopted by the Supervisory Board on 25 April 2024, the Group Executive Board will also manage the currently four Business Areas operationally in the future.
As part of the Supervisory Board meeting on 25 April, Arungalai Anbarasu and Dr. Helena Garriga were appointed as new members of the Körber AG Executive Board with effect from 01 September 2024. Arungalai Anbarasu will lead the Business Area Technologies, Helena Garriga will take over the leadership of the Business Area Supply Chain. Business Area Pharma will be fully managed by Group Executive Board member Erich Hoch (currently Group CTO/COO). The operational management of the Business Area Digital was already taken over by Group CDO and Executive Board member Dr. Christian Schlögel at the beginning of April following the departure of Daniel Szabo, who left the Group at his own request.
Arungalai Anbarasu comes from Baker Hughes, where she was most recently responsible for the global business of Waygate Technologies as Chief Technology and Strategy Officer. At the same time, she founded InspectionWorks, a successful digital SaaS business serving for aerospace, automotive, electronics, battery manufacturers, and more. Prior to that, she successfully managed and developed various business units, functions and innovation projects at General Electric worldwide. Arungalai Anbarasu holds a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and has twice been honored as one of the Top 100 Women in Technology worldwide – in 2021 and 2023.
Dr. Helena Garriga is currently responsible for the worldwide Power & Industry Components business at Hitachi Energy (formerly a joint venture with ABB) as Group Vice President. Previously, she held a wide range of leadership positions at ABB. In this context, Dr. Helena Garriga has already successfully developed several companies with a focus on innovation and growth. She began her professional career at the management consultancy ZS Associates in the USA. Helena Garriga studied engineering and holds a PhD in Operations Research from ETH Zurich, a Master in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, New York, Ecole Centrale Paris, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona.
“I am very pleased that we could attract two outstanding leaders to Körber in Mrs. Anbarasu and Dr. Garriga. With their international experience and broad technological expertise, both will together with the full Group Executive Board contribute significantly to the further development of Körber in the coming years,” says Richard Bauer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
In light of the upcoming changes, Group CSO Rami Jokela decided to pursue his professional future outside of Körber and will leave the Group Executive Board on 31 August 2024. The acting Business Area CEOs Jörn Gossé (Pharma), Dirk Hejnal (Supply Chain), and Jürgen Spykman (Technologies) will leave the Group as part of long-term planned transition and retirement processes also in the best mutual understanding. Until their individual departure, they will actively accompany the implementation of the new leadership structure to ensure a smooth transition.
"On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Rami Jokela and the acting CEOs of our Business Areas for their extraordinary commitment to Körber, their contributions to the successful transformation of the Group, and to the strong growth of our business," emphasize Supervisory Board Chairman Richard Bauer, and Stephan Seifert, Chairman of the Group Executive Board.
Ready for further growth: From transform to perform
"Over the past ten years, we jointly have successfully achieved enormous progress and transformation success at Körber. We developed from an internationally successful mechanical engineering company to a globally leading technology group. Today, we are positioned in a market- and future-oriented way. In the coming years, we want to utilize our opportunities and potential worldwide even better, with the aim to fulfill our ambition of being ‘customers’ and people’s first choice’ in the future," says Group CEO Stephan Seifert.
"Together with my colleagues on the Executive Board, I am delighted that Arungalai Anbarasu and Dr. Helena Garriga, two internationally very experienced leaders, are joining us. Thanks to their comprehensive and broad expertise, their innovative competence and international experience, both will play a key role in shaping our global market positioning and our profitable growth and will give us new impetus."
Press Release 02 Mai 2024