Metro AG, the largest retail group in Germany, has announced that it has made two senior personnel moves this month, with Franz Markus Haniel coming in as the new chairman of the supervisory board and Olaf Koch taking over as chief executive.
Koch, who has served as Metro's chief financial officer since September 2009, will step into the role of CEO and chairman of the management board on 1 January 2012, replacing the outgoing Eckhard Cordes who will depart the group at the end of 2011.
In a statement, Haniel – who replaces Dr Jürgen Kluge as chairman of the supervisory board – thanked Cordes for his time as CEO.
'Dr Cordes has performed outstanding service for Metro Group during the past four years,' said he said. 'He drove the internationalisation of the group, aligned the course towards consistent consumer orientation and led Metro into the age of e-commerce. He thereby paved the way for a consistent profitable growth course for the company.
'We are pleased that, with Olaf Koch, we found a chairman of the management board who symbolises a timely transfer to a new generation and thus continuity in management,' Haniel added. 'Moreover, he has demonstrated that he is riving the changes required for the company's long-term success in close cooperation with the sales division.'
Haniel said that the appointments would help the group return to its successful growth course, and also praised Joël Saveuse for renouncing his stand as CEO candidate and putting the company first - a move for which he deserved 'all our respect'.
