Board of Directors

Philippe Royer

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Business Administration degree, ICG Paris, 1993
Engineer, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 1984
French and Swiss citizen, 1961
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

1985 – 1987 IT Manager, Lee Cooper, France
1988 – 1990 Supply chain and IT Manager, Devanlay, France
1991 – 1999 Various leading positions, then Managing Director, Eurofoil, Luxembourg
2000 – 2001 Senior Vice President, VAW Business Unit Foil, Germany
2002 – 2006 Business Unit President, Alcoa, Switzerland
2007 – 2013 Chairman & CEO, Manoir Industries, France
2014 – 2018 CEO, Metalor, Switzerland

Stefan Breitenstein

Member of the Board of Directors

Member of the Board of Directors Attorney at Law, Dr. iur. University Zurich
LL.M. Harvard Law School
Diplôme des Hautes Etudes Européennes, College of Europe, Bruges
Swiss citizen, 1957
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

Since 1994 Partner at Lenz & Staehelin

Other Important Activities and Vested Interests

  • Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Brink’s International Holdings AG, Zug, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, EPIC Swiss AG, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, MAN Truck & Bus AG, Otelfingen, Switzerland Member of the Board of Directors, Kar-Tess Holding, Luxembourg
  • Member of the Board of Directors, The A.G. Leventis Foundation, Liechtenstein
  • Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors L&S Trust Services S.A., Geneva, Switzerland

Stefan Breitenstein

Member of the Board of Directors

Member of the Board of Directors Attorney at Law, Dr. iur. University Zurich
LL.M. Harvard Law School
Diplôme des Hautes Etudes Européennes, College of Europe, Bruges
Swiss citizen, 1957
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

Since 1994 Partner at Lenz & Staehelin

Other Important Activities and Vested Interests

  • Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Brink’s International Holdings AG, Zug, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, EPIC Swiss AG, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, MAN Truck & Bus AG, Otelfingen, Switzerland Member of the Board of Directors, Kar-Tess Holding, Luxembourg
  • Member of the Board of Directors, The A.G. Leventis Foundation, Liechtenstein
  • Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors L&S Trust Services S.A., Geneva, Switzerland

Andreas Evertz

Member of the Board of Directors

Mech. Eng. Degree, University of the German Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg
Senior Executive Management Training, IMD Lausanne
German citizen, 1969
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

2002 – 2007 CEO of Flender Tübingen GmbH
2008 – 2010 Executive Vice President at Walter AG
2010 – 2011 CEO & President of Walter AG
2012 – 2013 President of Sandvik Machining Solutions
Since 2013 Industrial Advisor for various Private Equity Companies
2014 – 2019 CEO and President at Schenck Process Holding GmbH
Since 2020 Group CEO of Flender
 Other Important Activities and Vested Interests
  • Since 2019: Board member of ProXES GmbH
  • Since 2021: Board member of the VDMA Power Transmission Engineering Association
  • Since 2022: Member of the Exhibitor Advisory Board of Hannover Messe

Bettina Gerharz-Kalte

Member of the Board of Directors

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Max-Planck Institute Polymer Science,
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
German Citizen, 1964
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

1992 – 2002 Various Management positions in Germany and Switzerland at HOECHST AG and Clariant AG within the field of specialty Chemicals
2003 – 2005 BL head Emulsion Powder at Celanese GmbH
2005 – 2012 Managing Director Elotex GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany and Member of the Management Team Elotex AG in Switzerland, Responsible for Marketing globally, belonging to the groups National Starch and Chemicals, ICI and AkzoNobel
2012 – 2014 Purchasing Director AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals, Netherlands
Since 2014 Vice President New Growth Business Thermal Insulation at Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH, Germany

Bettina Gerharz-Kalte

Member of the Board of Directors

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Max-Planck Institute Polymer Science,
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
German Citizen, 1964
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

1992 – 2002 Various Management positions in Germany and Switzerland at HOECHST AG and Clariant AG within the field of specialty Chemicals
2003 – 2005 BL head Emulsion Powder at Celanese GmbH
2005 – 2012 Managing Director Elotex GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany and Member of the Management Team Elotex AG in Switzerland, Responsible for Marketing globally, belonging to the groups National Starch and Chemicals, ICI and AkzoNobel
2012 – 2014 Purchasing Director AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals, Netherlands
Since 2014 Vice President New Growth Business Thermal Insulation at Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH, Germany

Nick Huber

Member of the Board of Directors

Businessman
Stanford Executive Program, Stanford University
Swiss citizen, 1964
Non-executive member

Professional background (main stages)

1990 – 1995 Account Manager, IBM (Schweiz) AG, Switzerland
1995 – 2016 Different management positions within the SFS Group, Heerbrugg, Switzerland

Other Important Activities and Vested Interests

  • Chairman of the Board of Directors, COLTENE Holding AG, Altstätten, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, SFS Group AG, Heerbrugg, Switzerland
  • Member of the Board of Directors, Huwa Finanz- und Beteiligungs AG, Heerbrugg, Switzerland

Board of Directors’ Independence

Gurit’s Board of Directors’ independence definition is based on  the ‘Swiss Code of best practice for Corporate Governance’ issued by  ‘economiesuisse’, a Swiss corporate union and are complemented with additional criteria of independence by Gurit. In order to be considered as independent at Gurit, a member of the Board of Directors must not:

  • have been an employee of the Gurit Executive Committee or the Extended Executive Committee within the last 3 years
  • be affiliated with a significant customer or supplier of Gurit
  • have been a partner or employee of the company’s external audit firm during the past 3 years
  • have any other status which the Board of Directors in its fair judgement considers incompatible with independence

Based on above independence criteria as set forth above, all current members of the Gurit Board of Directors (BoD) are independent.

https://www.economiesuisse.ch/en/publications/swiss-code-best-practice-corporate-governance