Jürgen Otto new CEO of Brose

Coburg (20.07.2005). Michael Stoschek, President and CEO of the automotive supplier Brose, will hand over management of the corporate group to Jürgen Otto at the end of 2005. With this move, Stoschek, grandson of company founder Max Brose and head of the company for more than 34 years, hopes to achieve a smooth generational transition in the management of the corporate group. As chairman of the shareholder meeting, he will continue to support his successor in a consulting capacity.

In 1971 aged 23, Stoschek assumed management of the company, then known as Metallwerk Max Brose & Co. Located in Coburg, it generated an annual business volume of 25 million euros. In 2005, the Brose Group with a turnover of 2.1 billion euros is the eighth-largest privately-owned automotive supplier. A market and technological leader in car doors and seats, Brose employs 8,600 people at 39 locations in 19 countries.

“Heads of family businesses, in particular, frequently make the mistake of believing they are irreplaceable,” explained Stoschek. “The fact that the company leadership at Brose is very much focused on my person has its advantages but also entails risks which I wish to avoid by gradually transferring my responsibility to a younger successor.”

Otto stands for continuity in the executive board

For the first time in Brose’s almost 100-year history, a non-family member is to become CEO of the company. The decision in Otto’ favor was due in large part to his many years of experience and success in almost all areas of the company. Now aged 40, Otto, a graduate in economics, began his professional career at Brose as a logistics planner in 1990. In 1994, he was put in charge of the Gera plant, in 1996 he assumed management of the first just-in-time factory in Meerane and in 1999 he went on to become plant manager in Coburg. Since 2001, Otto has been responsible for the seat adjuster business division which has achieved exceptional expansion internationally since then.

Jürgen Otto’s appointment is a sign of the continuity and long-term orientation of the Brose Group which can continue to count on the support of the third and fourth generations of the family in the future, too. Otto has several years’ experience of working together with the current CEO, the other family shareholders and the advisory board.

“Jürgen Otto enjoys the confidence of the shareholders and the advisory board, of our customers and the Brose management. That is why I proposed to my co-shareholders and the advisory board that we appoint him as my successor effective the end of the year,” said Stoschek. This proposal was unanimously accepted at the shareholders’ meeting of the Brose corporate group on 16 July 2005.


Press contact:
Daniel Reinhardt
Telephone: +49 9561 21 2332
Telefax: +49 9561 21 1704
E-mail: daniel.reinhardt@brose.net