Hartmut Mehdorn
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
manager and current in the supervisory board of Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
, until May 2009: CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
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Biography
After studying mechanical engineering in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, he joined the construction development section of Focke-Wulf in Bremen. From 1966 to 1978, Mehdorn worked for what later became known as the "Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke-Fokker GmbH", his last position being that of production head at the "Nordwerke" of MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was a German aerospace company formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter...
). From 1979 to 1984, he was a member of the management of Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
Industrie S.A. in Toulouse, France, where he was responsible for production, purchasing, and quality assurance. Between 1984 and 1989, the graduate engineer was head of the 'MBB Transport- und Verkehrsflugzeuge' group in Hamburg and from 1985 was also a member of the MBB management team in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
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From 1989 to 1992, Mehdorn had a joint function as chairman of Deutsche Airbus GmbH in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and, from 1992 to 1995, he was a member of the board of Deutsche Aerospace AG in Munich where he was responsible for the aviation corporate division. He was then chairman of the board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG from 1997 to 1999, and, from 1998 to 1999, was also a member of the board of RWE
RWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
where he was responsible for industrial holdings.
Hartmut Mehdorn has been CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Bahn AG
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
in Berlin since the end of 1999. His contract with Deutsche Bahn runs until 2011. He offered his resignation to the supervisory board on March 30, 2009.
Mehdorn is married to Frenchwoman Hélène Mehdorn (née Vuillequez) and has three grown-up children. He said in an interview that he speaks English with his wife, because they didn't know each others language when they met and fell in love during Mehdorn's assignment in Toulouse, whereas his wife speaks French with their children while he speaks German with them. Mehdorn is in the board of Stiftung Lesen
Stiftung Lesen
Stiftung Lesen is a Mainz, Germany, based non-profit organization under the patronage of Horst Köhler, with the purpose of reading education as well as learning reading competence for all age groups, especially children and adolescent. The scope of the foundations activities is national...
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