From July 1, 2022, Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel will jointly lead Messe München into the future as joint managing directors.
Current chairman and CEO Klaus Dittrich will be stepping down at that date as part of the changes to the Board of Management .
“Messe München is an international showcase for Bavaria,” said Hubert Aiwanger, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs who serves as chairman of the company’s Supervisory Board and the owners’ meeting. “For this reason, we are putting a new management team into place at an early stage.”
Reinhard Pfeiffer (58) has been a member of the Board of Messe München since 2008 and has served as deputy CEO since 2014. Stefan Rummel (44) has held a managerial position at Messe München since 2010 and became a member of the Board in 2015.
Both executives already oversee an extensive share of Messe München’s portfolio. “By further reducing the Board of Management, we are combining the company’s necessary restructuring and crisis management with continuity,” Aiwanger said. “The experienced trade fair managers Pfeiffer and Rummel are deeply rooted in the company and will complement each other perfectly as co-managing directors. This a good and important signal to employees and the business partners of the trade fair company.”
Dieter Reiter, the Lord Mayor of Munich who acts as the deputy chairman of the owners’ meeting and Supervisory Board, said: “By selecting Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel as the new leaders, we are also honouring the successful work that the entire Board of Management performed before and during the pandemic.”
Klaus Dittrich will retire in mid-2022 after spending more than 20 years at the company. He joined the Board in 2002 and became CEO at the beginning of 2010. “Klaus Dittrich has done an incredible job over the years and turned Messe München into one of the 10 best trade fair companies in the world,” Aiwanger and Reiter added. “The company’s owners would like to really thank him for his excellent work. We must now build on this success.”
The primary owners of Messe München are the state of Bavaria and the Bavarian state capital of Munich. Other owners are the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria, and the Chamber of Trade for Munich and Upper Bavaria.
Rummel, the current managing director, said: “I am really looking forward to being one of the greatest Munich companies and one of the largest exhibition companies in the world right at the top in the future.
“We would like to thank the shareholders of Messe München for their support, appreciation and trust.”
Rummel expressed his thanks to Klaus Dittrich for the close co-operation over the past 12 years and for his many years of support in many areas.
Addressing Rheinhard Pfeiffer, the current vice-chairman, he added: “Along with a joint understanding on the future of our business and the future of the company. I'm convinced that together with our colleagues we will overcome this ongoing crisis, get the company ready for the future and bring it back on a winning streak.”
