Speaker details

Biography

Karl-Ulrich Köhler has been the Chief Executive Officer of Rittal International Stiftung & Co. KG since July 1, 2016. Prof. Dr. Köhler has been the Chairman of Management Board and Member of Management Board at Rittal GmbH & Co. KG since July 1, 2016. He began his career at Thyssen Stahl AG, Duisburg in 1980. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Corus Group Limited since October 1, 2010 and served as its Chief Operating Officer since February 1, 2010. He served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Corus Group Limited. He served as a Member of the Executive Board of Thyssenkrupp Automotive Ag. He served as the Chief Operating Officer of Tata Steel Europe Limited. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Steel Europe Limited from October 1, 2010 to February 29, 2016. He served as the Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp AG since October 1, 2005 and served as its Member of the Executive Board since 1997. He joined Hoesch AG in 1988. He served as the Head of Steelmaking/Hot Flat Products of Hoesch Stahl AG, Dortmund since 1990. He served as Chief Executive Officer of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG since 2001. From 2010 to 2016, he was the Chairman of the management board of Tata Steel Europe limited (formerly: Corus Group PLC). He served as a Member of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG since October 1, 2005. He was responsible for a number of functions in ThyssenKrupp’s steel segment. Until 2009, he was responsible for ThyssenKrupp Steel. He served as the Chairman of the Executive Board and Member of Executive Board at ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG. He served as an Executive Board Member of ThyssenKrupp AG- Holding. He served as an Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Stahl and Executive Board Vice Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Steel since October 1, 2001. He served on the Executive Board of Krupp Hoesch Stahl AG since 1996 for the Technology directorate. Following the merger of the flat steel activities of Thyssen and Krupp, he served as an Executive Board Member of ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG since September 1997 and responsible for Operations 2 and thus for the heavy plate, sheet/coated products businesses as well as for research and development. He served as the President of Eurofer, the European steelmaking federation. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience of steelmaking in Europe, as well as of the European steel supply chain and customer base. He has worked during his 30-year steel industry career at the companies. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary professorship in flat steel product technology by Freiberg University. He served as Vice Chairman of VDEh, the German Iron and Steel Institute. He has been Member of Supervisory Board at Klöckner & Co SE since May 13, 2016. He serves as a Member of the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp Stainless AG. He served as a Member of Advisory Board at Friedhelm Loh Stiftung & Co. KG until July 1, 2016. He served as a Member of the Board of Tata Steel Limited in India since 2010. He served as a Director of Corus Group Limited. He served as a Director of Tata Steel Europe Limited until February 29, 2016. He served as a Director of Hoesch Stahl AG, Dortmund. since 1992. Prof. Dr. Köhler studied Metallurgy at Clausthal University of Technology, where he gained his PhD 1988 in Engineering. Prof. Dr. Köhler holds the Degree of Diplom-Ingenieur (Certified Engineer).