Joachim Milberg (born 10 April 1943 in Verl (Westfalen)) is a German engineer and manager who served as CEO of Bayerischen Motorenwerke AG (BMW). He was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BMW until July 2015.
Milberg was Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Universität München. He was Member of the Board of Management for Production of BMW and became CEO when Bernd Pischetsrieder had to leave because of the Rover problems. Milberg stopped the Rover venture and reestablished the BMW success story.
Milberg was the founding President of acatech – the German Academy of Science and Engineering.
Milberg grew up on a farm in Sennestadt, today part of the city of Bielefeld. From 1953 to 1959 Milberg went to secondary school. From 1959 to 1962 he trained as a mechanic at Gildemeister AG and, from 1962 to 1965, studied production engineering at the State Engineering School Bielefeld. He continued his studies at the Technische Universität Berlin with a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and obtained his Dipl.-Ing. in 1969. From 1970 to 1972, he was research assistant at the Institut für Werkzeugmaschinen und Fertigungstechnik of the Technischen Universität Berlin (Günter Spur). In 1971, he was awarded his doctorate in production engineering.
In 1972, Milberg became senior manager at the machine tool factory Gildemeister AG. From 1978 to 1981, he was head of the Automatic Lathe Division. [1]
In 1981, Milberg became full professor for machine tools with business administration at Technische Universität München, head of the Center for Production Automation and Robotics in Munich and the Production Application Center in Augsburg. From 1991 to 1993, he was Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. [2]
In 1993, Milberg became member of the board of management of BMW, responsible for production. After having just overseen the successful launch of the BMW 3 Series, he was named by the supervisory board of BMW – then led by Eberhard von Kuenheim – as the company’s new CEO in 1999. He succeeded Bernd Pischetsrieder, who resigned along with Wolfgang Reitzle, another manager widely viewed as potential successor at the time. [3] He was heavily criticized by the German media for BMW's decision to sell its unprofitable U.K. subsidiary Rover in 2000. In 2002, he decided to step down a year ahead of schedule and handed over to Helmut Panke, in an effort to avoid media speculation about who would succeed him in what would be the final year of his tenure at BMW. [4] He subsequently became chairman of the supervisory board in 2004. [1]
Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) is an organization of about 135,000 engineers and natural scientists. More than 12,000 honorary experts process the latest technical findings each year to promote the technology location. Established in 1856, it is the largest engineering association in Western Europe. Its role in Germany is comparable to that of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in the United States or Engineers Australia (EA) in Australia, but includes broader field work. It is not a union, but promotes the advancement of technology and represents the interests of engineers and engineering businesses in Germany.
Franz Fehrenbach is a German engineer and manager who was the chairman of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Hartmut Mehdorn is a German manager and mechanical engineer. Until May 2009 he was CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Germany's biggest railway company. He was CEO of Germany's second largest airline Air Berlin until he stepped down in January 2013. In March 2013 he assumed a CEO position at Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB), the owner and future operator of Berlin Brandenburg Airport, until March 2015.
Helmut Gunter Wilhelm Panke is a German manager and physicist who has been holding board membership in several companies - Microsoft, Bayer AG and Singapore Airlines. During the past recent 30 years, Panke's management career spread over several companies, including e.g. serving as the chairman of the board of management at BMW AG from May 2002 through August 2006.
Norbert Reithofer is a German businessman and former chairman of the board of management (CEO) of BMW. He currently serves as chairman of the supervisory board.
Hans Wolfgang Reitzle is a German business executive.
Acatech, founded in 2002 and established as the German Academy of Science and Engineering on 1 January 2008, represents the interests of German technical sciences independently, in self-determination and guided by the common good, at home and abroad. acatech is organized as a working academy that advises politicians and the public on forward-looking issues concerning the technical sciences and technology politics. The academy sees itself as an institution that provides neutral, fact and science-based assessments of technology-related questions and serves society with far-sighted recommendations of excellent quality. Also, acatech aims to facilitate the knowledge transfer between science and business and to promote new talent in the technical sciences. To further the acceptance of technical progress in Germany and demonstrate the potential of forward-looking technologies for the economy and for society, acatech organizes symposia, forums, panel discussions and workshops. acatech communicates with the public by publishing studies, recommendations and issue papers.
Heinrich Hiesinger is a German engineer and manager who served as the CEO of ThyssenKrupp from 2011 until 2018.
Rüdiger Grube is a German engineer who served as the chairman of the board of Deutsche Bahn from 2009 until 2017 and as the chairman of EADS from 2007 until 2009.
Berthold Leibinger was a German mechanical engineer, businessman, and philanthropist. He was the head of the German company Trumpf, a leader in laser technology, and founder of the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung. He served on the advisory board of major companies and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Stuttgart.
Raymond Freymann is an engineering professor and researcher, born on 30 May 1952 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, and has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific publications. He has served BMW for 25 years and held the position of CEO of BMW Group Research and Technology from 2003 to 2011
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Wulf Freiherr von Schimmelmann is a German manager. He was chairman of the Postbank's executive board from February 1999 to June 2007, and was chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Post AG between January 1, 2009, and April 2018.
Carl-Alexander Graubner is a German civil engineer and since 1996 professor at the TU Darmstadt. Since 2007 he has been a member of the University Assembly TU Darmstadt and since 2012 chairman of the mirror committee "masonry" in the DIN.
Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller born Leibinger is an American-born German businesswoman. She is the president and chairwoman of the Managing Board of the Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG, of which she has been a member since 2003, after having joined the company in 1985 as a public relations and branding specialist.
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Aron Hirsch was a German metal trader.
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