Peter R. Manolopoulos (54) will become the new CEO of the Schunk Group as of Nov. 1, 2023. He succeeds Dr. Arno Roth (61), who, at his own request and for personal reasons, will not extend his position as CEO beyond the expiration of his contract in October 2023.
"We very much regret Dr. Arno Roth's decision," said Stefan Rinn, CEO of the Supervisory Board of Schunk GmbH, and Gunthard Sommer, Chairman of the Board of the Ludwig Schunk Foundation. "But we respect them and thank him for his extraordinary commitment to Schunk. During the ten years under the leadership of Dr. Arno Roth, Schunk has experienced exceptional growth, driven by innovations in all Business Units, and this despite the sometimes extremely challenging economic environment, especially in the last five years. The Supervisory Board, as well as the Ludwig Schunk Foundation as shareholder of Schunk GmbH, would like to expressly thank Dr. Arno Roth for the close, trusting and very successful cooperation."
"My time at the Schunk Group, and in particular the ten years as CEO, were very exciting, often challenging, but also always fulfilling," explained Dr. Arno Roth. "I am very pleased that I was able to move a lot in this company in a great team. After 25 years at Schunk, I would like to devote more time to my family and personal interests," said Dr. Arno Roth.
Dr. Arno Roth was born in Bärenbach/Hunsrück in 1961. After studying physics at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, he earned his doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) before becoming a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in 1993.
He has been with the Schunk Group since 1998, initially as general representative for strategic special tasks and from 2001 as managing director of Weiss Technik. Since 2007, he has been responsible for Weiss Technik and Schunk Sonosystems as a Member of the Executive Board of Schunk. In 2013, Dr. Arno Roth took over as CEO of the Schunk Group.
Under the leadership of Dr. Arno Roth, the sales of the Schunk Group exceeded the threshold of one billion euros for the first time in history and financial stability increased continuously. This was accompanied by high investments.
The future CEO, Peter R. Manolopoulos, has already been a Member of the Executive Board of the Schunk Group for ten years. As Chief Operation Officer, he was previously responsible for the Machinery & Equipment Division. This includes the Business Units Environmental Simulation, Air Solutions, Sonosystems and OptoTech. Under Peter R. Manolopoulos' leadership, the Machinery & Equipment business has grown rapidly within the Schunk Group and is now the largest of the technology company's three divisions in terms of sales and number of employees.
"I am looking forward to this new challenging task in the Schunk Group," said Peter R. Manolopoulos. "Our company is broadly positioned in terms of technology and is the global market leader in many fields. From Dr. Arno Roth, I am taking over the management of a very stable and financially independent company. I would like to further strengthen and expand this excellent position in the market," Manolopoulos continued.
"The Supervisory Board and shareholders are very pleased that with Peter R. Manolopoulos, the Schunk Group has an experienced managing director in its own ranks who knows the company well. In this way, we are ensuring continuity at Schunk," added Stefan Rinn and Gunthard Sommer.
Peter R. Manolopoulos was born in Wuppertal in 1969. After studying business administration at the Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster, he initially worked for a management consultancy before joining Babcock Borsig AG in 2000.
Since 2002, Peter R. Manolopoulos has held several management positions at GEA Group AG, a globally active German machinery and plant manufacturer, where he was most recently managing director of GEA Energietechnik GmbH. In 2011, he moved to Roth & Rau AG, a leading machine and plant manufacturer for the solar industry, as member of the Management Board responsible for operations.
Peter R. Manolopoulos has been a Member of the Executive Board of the Schunk Group since 2013.