Klaus Kleinfeld (born November 6, 1957 in Bremen, Germany) is chief executive officer (CEO) of Alcoa Inc., and former CEO of Siemens AG.
In August 2007, Kleinfeld was appointed COO of Alcoa Inc.[1] Beginning October 1, 2007, he oversaw the operative business for the US Aluminum concern. In May 2008, Kleinfeld was appointed as CEO of Alcoa, thus succeeding Alain Belda.
Kleinfeld was CEO of Siemens AG from 2005 until July 2007.On April 25, 2007, Siemens AG distributed a press release announcing that Kleinfeld was not available for a renewal of his contract. This was preceded by the supervisory board's indecisiveness in light of the ongoing corruption investigations at Siemens.
He started his career in 1982 by joining a specialized marketing consulting firm and worked with clients like Siemens, Henkel, Citibank, EFFEN, and industry associations.
Contents |
Klaus Kleinfeld has taken initiatives to reduce costs at Alcoa, including cutting back production and slashing jobs. The first company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to announce results for the three months through June 2009, Alcoa reported narrower losses than forecasted on Wall Street. "Our cash generation initiatives, productivity improvements, and portfolio changes are working," said Mr. Kleinfeld in a written statement. "Now Alcoa has the staying power and reduced cost base to withstand the most serious downturn in the history of the aluminum industry." [2]
While CEO of Alcoa in 2008, Klaus Kleinfeld earned a total compensation of $9,705,899; which included a base salary of $1,400,000; a cash bonus of $1,884,000; stocks granted of $3,021,377; options granted of $2,564,000; and other compensation of $836,522. [3]
Kleinfeld received a business degree from Georg August University in Göttingen, Germany and a Ph.D. in management, University of Würzburg.
In 1986, he joined Ciba-Geigy in Basel (Switzerland), where he was a product manager in the Pharmaceutical Division.
Kleinfeld has worked for Siemens AG since 1987. His first position was in the company’s Corporate Sales and Marketing unit.
In January 2001, Kleinfeld moved to the United States, where he served first as chief operating officer (COO) and then – from 2002 to 2004 – as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens USA.
In January 2004, Klaus Kleinfeld was appointed to Siemens’ Corporate Executive Committee. Kleinfeld was appointed Vice President of Siemens AG in the middle of 2004 and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on January 27, 2005, succeeding Dr. Heinrich von Pierer. As CEO, Kleinfeld set about restructuring Siemens. This led to the company turning in profits last year of $3.96 billion (up 35%) and increasing Siemens share price by 40%. [4] His attempts at modernization, however, brought him into conflict with the defenders of Siemens business culture, both inside and outside the company. [5] While generally viewed positively by the worldwide financial press, Kleinfeld regularly received criticism from the media in Germany, mostly for lack of social responsility against Siemens workers.
Under his leadership, the company's financially stricken mobile handset business was sold for a negative charge to Taiwan's BenQ in June 2005. The German subsidiary, BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG, declared bankruptcy about one year later when the Taiwanese parent enterprise stopped all funding, resulting in extensive redundancies. This led to speculation in the German media that Siemens had off-loaded the division to avoid dealing with the fallout of its imminent demise.[5] At about the same time, Siemens' Supervisory Board increased the salary of the Siemens Board of Directors by 30%[6] although, in an attempt at damage limitation over the negative publicity involved in the redundancies, the board pledged their pay rises to a relief fund set up by Siemens to aid the workers affected.[5]
In Autumn 2006, a series of corruption charges were laid against Siemens and there was speculation in the media about Kleinfeld's involvement. An independent law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, was appointed to do a complete audit of the company. Indications are that the problem is far greater than originally thought, although their reports have found no links between Kleinfeld and the slush funds. [7]
Siemens is giving Kleinfeld and other former members of its Managing Board against whom damages are being claimed in connection with past cases of corruption at the company until November 2009 to declare their willingness to reach a settlement.[8]
Kleinfeld is a member of the board of directors of Alcoa Inc., of Bayer AG and of Citigroup Inc. After the announcement that he would be joining Alcoa, he resigned from the Citigroup board as Alcoa’s then CEO was the lead director for the board.
| Preceded by Heinrich von Pierer |
CEO
of Siemens AG 2005 – 2007 |
Succeeded by Peter Löscher |
   | Siemens AG Official website - Siemens AG - Global Web Site |
| | Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld: "Nobody's Perfect, but a Team Can Be" - Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld: "Nobody's Perfect, but a Team Can Be" - Knowledge@Wharton |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search