During E.ON's Annual Shareholders Meeting Karl-Ludwig Kle has been appointed to the Supervisory Board, which subsequently elected him to be its Chairman.
Kley succeeds Werner Wenning, who ended his service on the board at his own request. Wenning had been a member of the Supervisory Board since April 2008 and its Chairman since May 2011.
Karl-Ludwig Kley, an attorney, began his career in 1982 at Bayer AG. He oversaw finance for Bayer in Japan, the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer’s subsidiary in Italy, and finance and investor relations at Bayer AG until 1998. Kley was CFO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG from 1998 to 2006, after which he became a member and Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Merck KGaA. He became Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Merck in 2007. Kley initiated a far-reaching reorganization of the Darmstadt-based chemicals and pharmaceuticals company, focusing it on three core businesses.
The Annual Shareholders Meeting also elected four other members to the E.ON Supervisory Board and resolved to increase the number of members from 12 to 18 until 2018.
Three new employee representatives—Tibor Gila, Silvia Šmátralová, and Albert Zettl—will also belong to the enlarged E.ON Supervisory Board. Kley emphasized:
“The new composition of the Supervisory board fits superbly with the new E.ON. The current and new members have abundant experience and expertise, which will help prepare the company for the new energy world. I’m very much looking forward to my new task and to working with my Supervisory Board colleagues, the E.ON Management Board, and the company’s employees.”