Frank Stührenberg to Hand Over the Role of Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Contact to Dirk Görlitzer
June 25, 2024
Frank Stührenberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Phoenix Contact, will retire at the end of December 2024 after 33 years with the company. He will be succeeded by Dirk Görlitzer, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer (COO) since 2020.
To ensure a smooth transition, Frank Stührenberg and Dirk Görlitzer will share the role of Chief Executive Officer from July 1. Frank Stührenberg will remain associated with the Phoenix Contact Group in the future as chairman of the supervisory board of the newly founded company Phoenix Contact E-Mobility Holding SE.
“We are very pleased about this internal succession arrangement, which ensures maximum stability and continuity in the company’s management team”, says Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Eberhard Veit, chairman of the advisory board of Phoenix Contact. “Frank Stührenberg has made a significant contribution to the global growth and success of our company over many years. At the same time, he has played a major role in shaping the culture within the company and the direction of the current Group Executive Board in cooperation with the advisory board and shareholders.
“His planned departure at the end of this year now presents his successor, together with his long-standing management colleagues, with good prospects to continue successfully developing the strategy and positioning of Phoenix Contact based on the current approach”.
Frank Stührenberg, born in 1963, studied economics with a focus on business systems. He has been with Phoenix Contact in Blomberg since 1992, many years of which he spent in senior sales positions. In 2006, Frank Stührenberg was appointed to the Phoenix Contact Group Executive Board and has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since January 2015.
Dirk Görlitzer, born in 1967, studied electrical engineering and has been with Phoenix Contact since 1994. His career has taken him from being a product manager to Head of the Business Area Industrial Components and Electronics (ICE), and on to the current Phoenix Contact Group Executive Board.
“Our family business is characterized by the fact that top management is also driven by a family spirit of togetherness and responsibility”, emphasizes Dr. Frank Eisert, shareholder and member of the Phoenix Contact advisory board. “After around 30 years at Phoenix Contact, Dirk Görlitzer embodies not only technical and entrepreneurial success, but also – like Frank Stührenberg – the values that characterize our company beyond that: trust, respect, partnership, and reliability. As a passionate advocate of our future vision of the All Electric Society, he will continue to consistently develop the strategic direction of Phoenix Contact”.
Following the departure of Frank Stührenberg, the Group Executive Board of Phoenix Contact will continue to include the current members Torsten Janwlecke (COO), Ulrich Leidecker (COO), Frank Possel-Dölken (CDO), and Axel Wachholz (CFO), in addition to Dirk Görlitzer (CEO).
