Joachim Milberg and Lars Rebien Sørensen Elected to Bertelsmann AG’s Supervisory Board
At today’s session of the Bertelsmann AG Annual General Meeting, two new members were elected to the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG and Lars Rebien Sørensen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Danish pharmaceuticals company Novo Nordisk A/S, will take their seats on the Supervisory Board effective immediately. At the same time, Dr. Rolf-E. Breuer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG and Sir Peter Job, former Chief Executive Officer of Reuters Group PLC, retired from the Supervisory Board, their term of office having expired.
Prof. Dr. Dieter H. Vogel, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG, said: “In the persons of Joachim Milberg and Lars Rebien Sørensen, the Supervisory Board gains two noted and internationally successful entrepreneurial personages. Both are a good match for Bertelsmann because they represent a combination of commercial success and corporate responsibility, along with high powers of innovation and a strong focus on employees. Speaking on behalf of the shareholders, I thank Messrs. Breuer and Job for our trustworthy collaboration and their active contributions to the company’s development.”
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg (62) has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW AG (Munich) since May 2004. A trained engine fitter who went on to earn a doctorate in engineering, Prof. Milberg began his career in 1972 as an executive at Gildemeister AG. In 1981, Milberg accepted an appointment as Professor for Machine Tools and Management Science at Technische Universität München (Munich Technical University). He returned to business in November 1993 as an expert for production engineering and was responsible for the Production and Engineering division on the BMW AG Executive Board. From February 1999 to May 2002, Milberg was Chairman of the BMW AG Executive Board. Under his leadership, BMW Group successfully focused on the premium segments in the international auto markets, while also pursuing a comprehensive marketing campaign for new models.
Lars Rebien Sørensen (50) has headed Novo Nordisk A/S as its President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2000. The Danish pharmaceuticals company is the global market leader in insulin production. Since first joining Novo Nordisk in 1982, Sørensen has worked for the company in a wide range of countries, including the United States and the Middle East. In May 1994, Sørensen, a native of Denmark, was appointed to Novo Nordisk’s Corporate Management and put in charge of the “Health Care” division. Sørensen also sits on the boards of Scandinavian Airlines System AB and Zymo Genetics, Inc.
The Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board now comprises the following members:
Prof. Dr. Dieter H. Vogel, Shareholder Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (BVG) and Managing Partner of the LGB & Vogel GmbH, Düsseldorf (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Strube, Shareholder Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, BASF AG, Ludwigshafen (Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board)
André Desmarais, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Corporation of Canada, Montréal
Dr. Claus-Michael Dill, Chairman of the Executive Board, Axa Konzern AG, Köln
John R. Joyce, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Global Services, Somers
Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman of the Executive Board, Metro AG, Düsseldorf
Oswald Lexer, Vice Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, BMW AG, Munich
Liz Mohn, Vice Chair of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board and Chairwoman of the Board of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh
Willi Pfannkuche, Member of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh
Erich Ruppik, Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council and Shareholder Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh
Gilles Samyn, Managing Director, Frère-Bourgois and Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille S.A., Loverval
Richard Sarnoff, Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Management Representative Committee and Executive Vice President Random House, New York
Lars Rebien Sørensen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd
Christian van Thillo, Chief Executive Officer, De Persgroep NV, Kobbegem
Reinhard Mohn is the Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
About Bertelsmann AG
The media company Bertelsmann commands globally leading positions in the major markets. Its core business is the creation of first-class media content. Bertelsmann includes RTL Group, Europe’s No.1 in television and radio, as well as the world’s biggest book-publishing group, Random House, with more than 100 publishing imprints (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner + Jahr, the European No.1 in magazine publishing (Stern, Geo, Capital) and BMG with artists such as Anastacia, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Dido and Usher also stand for creativity and powerful brands. The Arvato division bundles the group’s media services, which include the expanding units Arvato Logistics Services and Arvato Direct Services (distribution, service centers, customer relationship management), along with state-of-the-art printers, storage media production and comprehensive IT services. Bertelsmann’s direct-to-customer businesses are bundled in Direct Group: book and music clubs with more than 30 million members all over the world.
For further questions, please contact:
Oliver Herrgesell
Senior Vice President Media Relations
Phone: +49 – 52 41 – 80 24 66
oliver.herrgesell@bertelsmann.com
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