2011: Changes in the Carl Zeiss Executive Board

Dr. Dieter Kurz hands over his office as CEO to Dr. Michael Kaschke on 1 January 2011

29-Jun-2010 - Germany

At its meeting of 24 June 2010 the Supervisory Board of Carl Zeiss AG passed a unanimous resolution concerning personnel changes in the Executive Board. As planned, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, Dr. Dieter Kurz, will not renew his contract that is due to expire at the end of 2010. Dr. Michael Kaschke, Member of the Carl Zeiss Executive Board, was appointed as the new President and CEO, effective 1 January 2011.

Thomas Spitzenpfeil, currently CFO at Zumtobel AG, has been appointed as a new Member of the Executive Board effective 1 October 2010. In his role as CFO he will be responsible, among other things, for the company’s finances in the future. Together with Dr. Hermann Gerlinger, who has been a Member of the Executive Board since 2006, Dr. Michael Kaschke and Thomas Spitzenpfeil will constitute the Executive Board of Carl Zeiss AG from 2011.

Dr. Dieter Kurz, born in Tübingen in 1948, has been a Member of the Carl Zeiss Executive Board since 1999 and President and CEO since 2001. He joined Carl Zeiss in 1979 after finishing his studies and obtaining his doctorate in physics. After holding various management positions in development and research, marketing and sales, including two years in North America, he headed the Semiconductor Optics Division and then the Semiconductor Technology Group. In the Carl Zeiss Executive Board Dr. Kurz’s responsibilities include Industrial Metrology, Consumer Optics/Optronics, the Europe and Latin America regions and major corporate functions.

Dr. Michael Kaschke, born in Greiz in 1957, has been a Member of the Carl Zeiss Executive Board since 2000. Kaschke joined Carl Zeiss in 1992 after studying physics and obtaining his doctorate and holding various positions as a scientist in the Max Planck Institute, the Max Born Institute and in the IBM Research Center in the USA. From 1995 onwards, he headed the Surveying Instruments Division and then the Surgical Instruments Division, and became Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Medical Systems Group in 1999. As a Member of the Carl Zeiss Executive Board, Dr. Kaschke's duties include corporate finance, medical systems, microscopy and the Asia-Pacific region.

Thomas Spitzenpfeil, born in Bad Saulgau in 1962, is an industrial engineer. After working in various positions at Robert Bosch GmbH, VIAG AG and Kodak AG, he held management functions in Controlling and Finance at VAW aluminium AG. After the acquisition of VAW aluminium AG by Norsk Hydro in 2002, be became CFO of the Rolled Products Division. In 2004 he moved as CFO to the publicly listed company Zumtobel AG, Dornbirn, Austria. In the future, his responsibilities on the Carl Zeiss Executive Board will include finances.

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