The DB supervisory board has appointed Dr Richard Lutz as the new President of Deutsche Bahn until March 2022. He succeeds Dr Rüdiger Grube, who stepped down as Chairman of the Management Board at the end of January 2017.
Dr Richard Lutz, 52, who studied business management, joined Deutsche Bahn in 1994. Having served as Chief Financial Officer since 2010, Lutz had been acting as interim President since Grube’s departure.
Under the new board structure, Lutz will retain his responsibility for Finance & Accounting which is to be combined with his new role as CEO.
The Supervisory Board also drew up the forthcoming re-appointments of the Management Board members Berthold Huber (Passenger Transport) and Ronald Pofalla (Infrastructure). Both will also receive a five-year contract, which runs until March 2022.
Two new members are to cover the remits of Freight & Logistics and Digital & Technology. These appointments are expected to be announced shortly, but in the meantime Huber will continue to oversee the freight portfolio and Lutz will oversee the technology sector previously headed by Grube.
“Nobody knows Deutsche Bahn as well as Dr Lutz”, said Supervisory Board Chairman Prof Utz-Hellmuth Felcht. “His competence and experience will provide the necessary continuity that the company needs in the midst of rapid change.”
The new contracts for Huber and Pofalla would ensure that the management board could continue to act as a team to “consistently and successfully implement the Zukunft Bahn programme” to improve quality and attract more customers.
UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux extended his warmest congratulations to President Dr Richard Lutz on his appointment on behalf of himself and the international railway community.
He expressed a wish that, under the leadership of Dr Richard Lutz, Deutsche Bahn as a founding member of UIC and a key player in international railway cooperation would pursue and even further strengthen its commitment to all UIC’s activities and projects – whether it be at the level of UIC Europe or worldwide cooperation activities.
(Source: Deutsche Bahn)
