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HAMBURG, Germany — Next spring, Beiersdorf AG will have a new chief executive officer at the helm.
The supervisory board of the skin care and cosmetics manufacturer has named Stefan Heidenreich as the company’s next chief executive officer. Plans call for Heidenreich to take the reins as CEO on April 26, 2012. He has also been appointed to the executive board, effective Jan. 1, 2012.
Heidenreich currently is CEO of Hero Group. He is slated to leave that post, which he has held since 2002, on Dec. 31.
Under Heidenreich’s leadership, Hero Group has developed into a leading manufacturer of baby foods and jams, according to Beiersdorf. His career includes about 25 years of experience managing brands and consumer goods companies.
He began in 1987 at Procter & Gamble Co., where he managed such brands as Pampers, Ariel and Crest. In 1992 he moved to Reckitt Benckiser, where he oversaw the aggressive expansion of its laundry and cleaning division into Eastern Europe. He joined Hero Group as an executive board member in 1996.
"Beiersdorf is an internationally leading skin care company with exceptionally well-established global brands, remarkable innovative competencies and great growth potential," Heidenreich said in a statement. "I have great respect for how Beiersdorf has developed its Nivea brand into the world’s largest skin care brand, and I am looking forward to leading this fascinating company into the future together with all of its employees."
Beiersdorf’s current CEO, Thomas Quaas, will continue in that position until the company’s annual meeting on April 26, when Quaas is slated to be elected to the supervisory board.
"We thank Thomas Quaas very much for his successful work for Beiersdorf over the past decades, right down to our joint accomplishment of the generation change in 2012," stated Reinhard Pöllath, chairman of the supervisory board. "We look forward to continuing our cooperation, then in the supervisory board, after his 60th birthday. His successor, Stefan Heidenreich, has 15 years experience in leading an international branded goods company — also a small player competing with much larger competitors — which has been successful in establishing itself as a global player. He stands for continuity in executing Beiersdorf’s strategy and its operating model."
