The Presidential Board consists of the President, his elected successor, his immediate predecessor, 7 other representatives and the treasurer (Vice Presidents) plus a further 15 members elected by the executive board.

Other members consist of the chair of the BDI Committee on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, the chair of the Association for the Promotion of Industry and the President of the German Institute for Economic Research. The Presidential Board can also co-opt as members up to 25 more outstanding personalities from industry as well as the representative it nominates for the Presidential Board of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations. There is also a member from the Presidential Board of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations who is proposed by that body.

At the suggestion of the President, the Presidential Board can elect the Director General for the duration of his term of office. Permanent guests in the Presidential Board are the President and Director General of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), the President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and the Director of the German Institute for Economic Research. The Presidential Board directs the content of the whole work of the BDI.

Siegfried Russwurm was elected President by the BDI's general assembly without dissenting votes in November 2020. His term of office began with the year 2021.

Siegfried Russwurm was born in June 1963 in Marktgraitz. He is married and has two adult children.

In 1988, he completed his studies in manufacturing technology at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg as a graduate engineer. There, he received his doctoral degree at the Chair of Applied Mechanics where he researched numerical simulation processes.

In 1992, he joined Siemens AG, first as a production planner and project manager in the medical technology division, later in various management positions in the medical and industrial business in Germany and Sweden. In 2006, he was appointed Divisional Director in Medical Technology, and in January 2008 he became a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG, where he was active until March 2017. During this time, he was responsible for all industrial issues, as Chief Technology Officer for Technology, for Healthcare and for Human Resources. His regional responsibilities at Siemens included Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Russwurm is active in various supervisory and advisory boards. Among other things he has been Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee and the Supervisory Board of Voith GmbH & Co KGaA since March 2019 and was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Thyssenkrupp AG in October 2019.

Russwurm was chairman of the North Africa Middle East Initiative of German Business (NMI) under the umbrella of the BDI from 2015 to 2017. From 2014 to 2017, he was chairman of the Platform Industry 4.0 of several BDI member associations, and from 2011 to 2017 member of the Restricted Board of the BDI member association of the mechanical engineering industry, VDMA.As Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director of Siemens AG, he was also a member of the presididential board of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) from 2008 to 2010.

Russwurm serves on the Executive Board of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and on the Board of the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce. Since 2009 he has been an honorary professor of mechatronics at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg.

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