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SMS Chairman to Celebrate Key Milestone

05/30/2012 - Dr. Heinrich Weiss, Chairman and CEO of the SMS group, will turn 70 years old on June 5, 2012. Weiss, who grew up in the Siegerland region of Germany, belongs to the founding family of the company.

Dr. Heinrich Weiss, Chairman and CEO of the SMS group, will turn 70 years old on June 5, 2012. Weiss, who grew up in the Siegerland region of Germany, belongs to the founding family of the company.
 
Following graduation as an engineer (1967), several years of practical work, and a period as CEO of a subsidiary, Weiss in 1971 succeeded his father Bernhard as Chairman of Siemag Siegener Maschinenbau GmbH, Hilchenbach, Germany. Even then, the company ranked among Germany’s "big five" rolling mill manufacturers, with annual sales totaling some EUR 70 million.
 
Managed by Weiss, the company expanded through a number of mergers and takeovers in Germany and abroad, developing into today’s SMS group. He is a member of the Administrative Board of Bombardier Inc., Montreal, Canada, and also sits on the Supervisory Boards of Deutsche Bahn AG, Berlin, and Voith AG, Heidenheim, both in Germany.
 
He has also assumed extensive responsibilities in politics and in several associations. Currently he is Chairman of the External Economic Relations Advisory Board for the Federal Minister of Economics, Berlin, a member of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business, and a member of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, Berlin.
 
From 2008 to 2012, he acted as President of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, and from 1982 to 1997 he was Chairman of the China Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business. From 1983 to 1988, Weiss served as Chairman of the Economic Committee of the CDU party, from 1983 to 1989 Vice President of the VDMA-German Engineering Federation, and from 1991 to 1992 he was President of the BDI-Federation of German Industry.
 
In 2001, he was awarded the title of Dr.-Ing. E.h. by RWTH Aachen University.
 
The SMS group is, under the roof of SMS Holding GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. Its 11,000 employees generate sales of over EUR 3 billion.