Business News
Leadership change at Prinovis
Friday 07. November 2008 - Thorsten Thiel succeeds Stephan Krauss
Thorsten Thiel, previously managing director at arvato services, will take the helm at Prinovis, the gravure printing joint-venture between arvato, Gruner + Jahr and Axel Springer, with immediate effect. He will succeed CEO Stephan Krauss, who resigned his position on his own accord. In future, Mr Krauss will support the Prinovis management as an adviser. In addition, he will become managing director of an independent company that will focus on improving the energy efficiency of printing processes using a Prinovis patent.
“The integration of eco-friendly technologies into production processes will gain importance in future – this applies in general and in particular for the printing industry. I therefore look forward to working and developing new business ideas in this interesting field of activity,” says Stephan Krauss.
Rolf Buch, chairman of the boards of directors of Prinovis and arvato AG, thanks the outgoing CEO Stephan Krauss for his work and commitment in the past years on behalf of all the Prinovis partners. Says Buch: “Stephan Krauss made an important contribution to the development of gravure printing at Bertelsmann over many years. Following the establishment of Prinovis, he pushed ahead with the integration of the individual printing locations of arvato, Gruner + Jahr and Axel Springer into one single entity. He left his mark on the printing group, both from an entrepreneurial and a strategic point of view. I am glad that he will stay with us as an adviser and project developer.”
“Thorsten Thiel is an excellent manager to be taking over as CEO of Prinovis, who has proven his high level of professional expertise with successful work for arvato services international in the past. With his entrepreneurial spirit, leadership strength, strong focus on the customer and creativity, he has established and expanded business entrusted to him within our decentralized management culture, while repeatedly showing his talent for successfully developing existing business relationships,” says Buch.
He is convinced that Thorsten Thiel would manage to systematically push ahead with the development of the company from a pure production company to a broadly diversified and integrated provider of printing services.
After studying industrial engineering and management at TU Darmstadt, Thorsten Thiel began his professional career with Bertelsmann Distribution in 1995. He first worked as an executive assistant and later held various positions in Germany and abroad. In 2000, he was appointed managing director for the services business of Bertelsmanns subsidiary arvato in Eastern Europe. One year later, he was put in charge of the telecommunications product line. Both business areas developed dynamically under his leadership and were supplemented with the acquisition of the Teleservice International group of companies in July 2005. Thorsten Thiel took charge of the new group of companies and became managing director at arvato services in 2006. Thorsten Thiel was born in Frankfurt/Main on March 14, 1967 and currently lives in Guetersloh. He is married and has two children.
“I am delighted that the partners of Prinovis have entrusted me with this challenging entrepreneurial task and I look forward to my new field of activity,” says Thorsten Thiel. “Together with the employees of Prinovis in the various locations, I will do everything to tap new market potentials, work more closely with customers and successfully develop our existing business,” Thiel continues. His future responsibilities will include gravure printing plants in Ahrensburg, Dresden, Itzehoe, Nuremberg and Liverpool, with a total of approximately 4,000 staff.
The organization of Prinovis will remain unaffected by the change in management. The managing directors of the printing locations will remain as follows: Klemens Berktold in Ahrensburg and Itzehoe, Stephan Dietz in Dresden, Richard Gray in Liverpool and Winfried Marquardt in Nuremberg. The management team of Prinovis furthermore consists of Jürgen Freier as managing director of sales, Manfred Dreier as CFO, Rainer Schirrmacher as head of human resources and law, as well as Torsten Schubert, who is in charge of communications.