New directorate Legal Affairs and Compliance
At its meeting today the Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp AG appointed Dr. Donatus Kaufmann (51) as a member of the Executive Board effective February 1, 2014. He will head the newly created Legal Affairs and Compliance directorate. “The appointment of Dr. Kaufmann is a clear signal that compliance is of utmost priority,” says Professor Dr. Ulrich Lehner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. ThyssenKrupp has made a clear commitment to compliance with laws and internal policies: Any violations, in particular antitrust or corruption violations, will be met with zero tolerance. All reports of misconduct will be investigated. The company’s Groupwide compliance efforts are focused on the areas of antitrust law and combating corruption.
Dr. Donatus Kaufmann was Head of Corporate Legal Affairs & Compliance, Group General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Metro AG and most recently Head of Corporate Special Projects & Executive Advisor to the Management Board of Metro AG. He has extensive experience in the areas of law, intellectual property rights, corporate governance, compliance and internal control systems, as well as in various management and other commercial functions. Kaufmann has also supported numerous M&A transactions.
From 2002 until the beginning of 2011 he worked for the pharmaceuticals group Boehringer Ingelheim in various executive functions with global responsibility, including as Head of Corporate Division Law Trademarks Insurance Real Estate and as Group General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer and Head of the Family Office of the owning family. He began his career in the telecommunications industry, initially with Vebacom/o.tel.o and then with Esprit Telecom/Global TeleSystems. Kaufmann studied law, political science and history in Göttingen, Bonn and Paris.
Dr. Christoph Klahold (Head of Compliance) and Arne Wittig (Head of Legal Affairs) will report directly to Dr. Donatus Kaufmann.
ThyssenKrupp has around 157,000 employees in just under 80 countries working with passion and expertise to develop solutions for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2012/2013 ThyssenKrupp generated sales of around €39 billion.
Innovations and technical progress are key factors in managing global growth and using finite resources in a sustainable way. With our engineering expertise in the areas of “Mechanical”, “Plant” and “Material”, we enable our customers to gain an edge in the global market and manufacture innovative products in a cost and resource efficient way.