Image: Greiner AG
The supervisory board of Greiner AG has appointed Saori Dubourg as CEO. The 52-year-old native of Germany was most recently a board member at the listed chemical company BASF from 2017 to 2023. Dubourg succeeds Axel Kühner, who left Greiner after 15 years at the turn of the year. Dubourg starts her new job on March 1st and has a three-year contract. CFO Hannes Moser and operational director Manfred will remain in top management Stanek.
“We are proud and happy to have gained an excellent manager and strong personality for our group of companies in Saori Dubourg,” says Supervisory Board Chairman Dominik Greiner. She brings with her a broad wealth of experience based on her international career. Very good and exciting people applied in the three-stage application process. Dubourg impressed with her strong focus on innovation and sustainability.
Dubourg (Japanese mother, German father) studied business administration at the University of Trier and worked for BASF from 1996 – in Ludwigshafen, the USA, China, Japan and Singapore. “I’m really looking forward to the new role and the creative opportunities that come with the task,” says Dubourg. The pressure on companies to transform is high. “At the same time, I perceived the Greiner family business as a pioneer in the areas of sustainability and circular economy.” She is convinced that sustainable economic success can only be achieved with innovative strength and ecological and social responsibility. Greiner’s strategy, which was set up last year, focuses on sustainability, innovation and the circular economy.
Fluent in four languages
In addition to German, Dubourg is fluent in English, French and Japanese. In 2017, she was named Manager of the Year by Manager Magazin and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), topping the list of the hundred most influential women in German business. In 2021 she was named Manager of the Year by Handelsblatt. Dubourg was a member of the EU Commission’s High Level Industrial group and in this role contributed to a vision paper for Europe 2030. She is also a member of the German Federal Government’s Council for Sustainable Development and a member of the steering committee of the Impact Taskforce, which was founded under the British G7 Presidency in 2021.
She and her husband and children will be moving their center of life from Germany to Austria in the coming weeks.
The Greiner Group generated sales of 2.33 billion euros in 2022 with 11,600 employees. It has doubled in ten years. 2023 was a challenging year, 2024 will develop similarly, says Greiner. But you benefit from the group’s broad positioning. Figures will be announced in the spring.
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