Supervisory Board appoints Dr Fritz Georg von Graevenitz new CEO and Heike Baumbach as CFO to the Executive Board
Mannheim, 26 January 2024 – In today’s meeting, the Supervisory Board of CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, has decided to appoint Dr Fritz Georg von Graevenitz as Speaker of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CropEnergies AG with effect as of 1 March 2024.
In addition, his appointment to the Executive Board, which is currently due to expire on 30 September 2024, by five years until 29 September 2029 will be extended. Von Graevenitz was previously acting as Chief Sales Officer (CSO) of CropEnergies AG.
Furthermore, Heike Baumbach will be appointed to the Executive Board also as of 1 March 2024 for a period of three years until 28 February 2027. She will assume the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The current Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of CropEnergies AG, Jürgen Böttcher, will continue to be part of the Executive Board and will, in the future, hold the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Dr Thomas Kirchberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CropEnergies AG: “The Supervisory Board has filled both positions on the Executive Board following an extensive selection process. With Fritz Georg von Graevenitz, an experienced Executive Board member is taking over the position of CEO and will successfully continue the transformation process that has already begun, in particular the implementation of the "Innovation from Biomass" strategy. In addition to her professional expertise, Heike Baumbach has particularly impressed us with her skills as a team player. We are delighted to have recruited candidates from our own ranks who have known the company very well for many years to fill the positions. We are very much looking forward to a trusting collaboration."
The previous Speaker of the Executive Board of CropEnergies AG, Dr Stephan Meeder, will leave the Executive Board of CropEnergies at the end of 29 February 2024 and, as announced in December 2023, will focus on his new role as a member of the Executive Board of Südzucker AG.
CropEnergies AG
Sustainable products from renewable biomass are the business of CropEnergies. Founded in Mannheim in 2006, the member of the Südzucker Group is the leading European producer of sustainably produced, renewable ethanol. With a production capacity of 1.3 million cubic metres of ethanol per year, CropEnergies produces neutral as well as technical alcohol (ethanol) for a wide range of applications at locations in Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and France: from climate-friendly fuel, beverage production or cosmetic products to pharmaceutical applications, for example as a basis for disinfectants or as a starting material for innovative biochemicals.
Thanks to highly efficient production plants, ethanol for fuel applications reduces CO2 emissions by an average of more than 70 percent over the entire value chain compared to fossil fuel. In addition, biomass use produces more than 1 million tonnes of high-quality, protein food and animal feed every year, as well as biogenic carbon dioxide, which is used in beverage production, among other things.
CropEnergies AG (ISIN DE000A0LAUP1) is listed on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.