Tuesday, March 3, 2015

OLIVER KALTNER BECOMES NEW LEICA CEO



Today Leica Camera AG officially announced that Oliver Kaltner, the former marketing manager at Leica, will be their new CEO, effective April 1, 2015.  He is replacing Alfred Schopf, who held that position for more than four years.  He decided to leave his position to pursue new professional challenges.  Already yesterday it was reported that Oliver Kaltner was elevated to his new position upon the wishes of Blackstone, a major shareholder at Leica Camera.

Oliver Kaltner


The official press release reads as follows:  

Oliver Kaltner is appointed to the Board of Leica Camera AG

The Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG has appointed Oliver Kaltner (46) on September 01, 2014, as the new CEO of the company.

Alfred Schopf, since August 2010 CEO of Leica Camera AG and responsible for the areas of Product Management, Sport Optics, customer care and public relations, is leaving the company at his own request at the end of the fiscal year on 31 March 2015 in order to pursue new professional challenges. He will be available to Leica as a consultant until the end of the year.

From November 2009 to August 2010 Alfred Schopf was a member of the Leica Supervisory Board. Previously, he held a number of senior positions with companies in the optical and opto-electronics industry, including management and the board of ARRI in Munich and the Jenoptik AG.

Oliver Kaltner has been a Member of the Board of Leica Camera AG since September 1 2014 and is responsible for Marketing, Sales and Retail as well as for the development of trade and distribution partnerships. He has extensive experience in the consumer electronics and IT industry, category management and brand management. Most recently, he was General Manager of Microsoft Germany, responsible for the Consumer Channels Group, which he successfully expanded in terms of turnover and profit. As a member of the Board he was responsible for the redesign of Microsoft Germany GmbH to a devices and services organization as well as the evolution of the entire change of management processes for the consumer business. Further stages of his career were executive and managerial positions, among others at Sky AG, Sony Germany GmbH, Electronic Arts Inc. and Nike GmbH.

"I regret that Alfred Schopf has decided to step down from his position as CEO after he led Leica in recent years through the most challenging times. With his great skills as well as his management style. He was able to significantly contribute to the continued growth and thus contribute to the success of the company. In addition to numerous major product launches and the return to Wetzlar to the new corporate headquarters he pushed in particular the global expansion of Leica Stores. I thank Alfred Schopf for the great contributions he has made, wish him well in his future endeavors and I am pleased that he will be available with his experience for a while in an advisory capacity,” said Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Board Leica Camera AG.

"At the same time, I am pleased that, with Oliver Kaltner, I have found an excellent successor with great strategic competence, commercial expertise and an excellent flair for innovation, who, since his start at Leica, succeed with enormous dedication and passion for the brand and who was able to achieve considerable success in terms of growth, transformation and digitization. The Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG expressed their full confidence in Oliver Kaltner and I wish him every success in the important task of leading the traditional enterprise of Leica into the future,” added Dr. Kaufmann.

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6 comments:

  1. Let's hope that Oliver Kaltner will get Leica back on course.

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    1. What course are you referring to? Leica is doing better than ever before. Last year's turnover of 278 million Euros ($315 at current exchange rate) was the highest ever and all indications are that the current fiscal year will be even better. Not only is Leica making gains, they do so in spite of the current downturn of the photographic industry.

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  2. I have read elsewhere that Blackstone insisted on making Oliver Kaltner CEO of the company. In view of the recent resurgence of Leica under Alfred Schopf, that doesn't seem to make much sense. Why would they do that?

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    1. I tend to agree. Leica is set to post another increase in sales over the last fiscal year, yet the CEO since 2010 is being ousted. We will probably never know for sure, but one explanation might be that Blackstone, in the typical American manner of having a very short term view, is or was expecting more rapid growth than what actually took place. Germans and Europeans in general willing and able to look further into the future. considering the recent success of Leica, by european standards they have done extremely well. Possibly that isn't good enough fro Blackstone.

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  3. It's entirely possible that after 5 years in the top position, Schopf was simply burned out - the stress level can be immense:
    Add to that, Investment Bankers and Mutual Fund Managers are anathema to stable, longterm business plans.

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    1. "Mutual Fund Managers are anathema to stable, longterm business plans."
      That is exactly what I was referring to in my comment. Alfred Schopf is generally credited with getting Leica back on a profitable track. Possibly that was not good enough for Blackstone, resulting in Schopf leaving.

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