Joachim Lang to become new BDI Director General

Dr Joachim Lang (49) will take over as Director General of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on 1 April 2017. On Monday, the BDI announced in Berlin that the Vice Presidents had approved the nomination submitted by BDI President Ulrich Grillo to the Presidential Board and the Executive Board regarding the position and appointment of a new Director General.    

Lang will assume his position on 1 April 2017. He will already be joining the Executive Board of the BDI on 1 December 2016. BDI President Grillo said: “With Joachim Lang on board, the BDI will gain a key figure with excellent connections in politics and business.” Dieter Kempf, who is due to take over as BDI President for 2017/18 on 1 January 2017, said: “I am very much looking forward to working with Joachim Lang.”

Dr Markus Kerber is keen to return to the IT industry after leaving his position as BDI Director General on 31 March 2017. President Grillo and Kempf, his designated successor, therefore initiated the succession process together with Kerber in good time.

Grillo and Kempf are sorry to see Kerber go. “Markus Kerber has been extremely successful at the helm of the BDI,” said Grillo. “He has provided reliable and forward-looking support to German industry in the face of increasingly complex challenges.”

Joachim Lang is currently serving as head of the E.ON SE representative office in Berlin, which he has been managing since 2007. He holds a PhD in law, and previously worked for the Federal Chancellery, where he was responsible for coordinating the German government’s European policy and, for over six years, served as coordinator for federal, state and European affairs for the first Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.

Holger Lösch (53) and Dr Stefan Mair (53) will continue to serve on the Executive Board of the BDI. Lösch will assume the position of Deputy Director General on 1 April 2017. The vice presidents of the BDI also agreed to nominate Iris Plöger (44), a fully qualified lawyer, as a new Member of the Executive Board from 1 April 2017. She is currently head of the Digitalisation, Innovation and Healthcare department and has been at the BDI since 2004.

Dieter Schweer (63) is to leave the Executive Board on 15 August 2016 at his own request.

The appointment of Lang and Plöger is to take place at BDI’s General Assembly on 28 November 2016.