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Leadership Change at Tata Steel Europe
06/28/2010 - Effective from October 1, 2010, Kirby Adams will hand over responsibility for the leadership of Tata Steel Europe to Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, who will become Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Adams will remain available to Tata Steel in an advisory capacity.
Effective from October 1, 2010, Kirby Adams will hand over responsibility for the leadership of Tata Steel Europe to Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, who will become Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Adams has decided to step down from his executive roles and return to Australia, having successfully initiated a restructuring of the company and restored profitability. He will remain available to Tata Steel in an advisory capacity.
Köhler, 54, was appointed Chief Operating Officer in February 2010 and is working closely with Adams in implementing a new strategy and business model. Prior to joining Tata Steel Europe, Köhler worked during his 30-year steel industry career at the companies that today comprise ThyssenKrupp Steel, where he was most recently Chairman of the Executive Board and a Member of the Executive Board of the parent company, ThyssenKrupp AG.
Until October 2009, Köhler was President of Eurofer, the European steelmaking federation. He is already a board member of Tata Steel Europe and will join the board of the parent company, Tata Steel Ltd., later this year.
Köhler studied metallurgy at Clausthal University of Technology, where he gained his doctorate in 1988. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary professorship in flat steel product technology by Freiberg University. He is a former member of the executive committee of the World Steel Association and Vice Chairman of VDEh, the German Iron and Steel Institute.
Adams said: “I am very pleased that Karl, whom I have known for many years, is now taking on this role and I wish him every success. I have spent the past 15 months undertaking a major review of the operations during a time of unprecedented difficulty in the European steel industry. The results of this review are now being implemented through the ‘One Company’ and ‘Customer First’ initiatives, and I am proud that we have moved from loss-making to profitability.
“We are now making great progress, and Karl and I will continue to work closely over the next three months, making October an ideal time for him to take over the reins.”
Köhler said: “I am delighted to accept the position of Executive and to have the opportunity to carry through the strategy initiated by Kirby and our team. We are becoming a much more internationally competitive business, and by living the ‘Customer First’ philosophy we are able to offer more innovative and differentiated products and services. I believe that thanks to these changes, the company has an exciting future.”
Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Steel, said: “In his time as Chief Executive of Tata Steel Europe, Kirby has affected a major turnaround of the business and he leaves the company very well placed for the future. We thank him for his contribution and look forward to making further progress under Karl’s leadership.”
