Kuehne + Nagel’s Board of Directors has announced it has accepted a request from Reinhard Lange, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel since 2009, to release him from his duties because of health reasons, effective May 7, 2013.
Until the termination of his contract on December 31, 2013, Lange will continue to support the Group in a consultancy role.
A company statement said: “To facilitate the transition to a new Group CEO – the search has already started – a management team under the leadership of Karl Gernandt, Chairman of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, will take over the tasks of Reinhard Lange. This will begin with the planned streamlining of the regional structures and the respective management teams. Karl Gernandt together with the business units’ heads Hans-Otto Schacht (Seafreight), Tim Scharwath (Airfreight), Stefan Paul (Road & Rail Logistics) and Detlef Trefzger (Contract Logistics) will be responsible for the implementation of the aligned structure. The CFO, Gerard van Kesteren, will also have an important role in ensuring the unchanged performance orientation of the Group.”
Reinhard Lange has spent more than 40 years with Kuehne + Nagel. After he started his professional career with Kuehne + Nagel in Bremen, he was member of the management boards in the Asia-Pacific region and in Germany, before he became Managing Director of the Kuehne + Nagel organisation in Canada. In 1999, he was appointed to the Management Board of Kuehne + Nagel International AG.