GfK CFO to Leave

GfK has announced that Christian Weller von Ahlefeld, CFO and Human Resources Director of GfK SE, will leave the company on December 31, 2009. Von Ahlefeld was one of the architects of the firm's planned merger with TNS.

50-year-old von Ahlefeld, who had been due to take the role of CFO of the merged company if the TNS deal had gone ahead, agreed with the Supervisory Board to terminate his contract prematurely, in order to devote his time to 'new professional challenges'.

He worked in the banking sector for around 15 years, 12 of them at J.P. Morgan in Frankfurt, London and New York. He subsequently moved to Siemens, where he took over the Corporate Finance and Treasury department and became co-founder and leader of Siemens Financial Services GmbH. He moved to TV programming rights company Tele München GmbH in 2000, as MD of Finances, before being appointed to the GfK Management Board in 2005, charged with furthering the company's expansion strategy.

At GfK, von Ahlefeld has been involved in more than 35 large and small acquisitions and start-ups and has seen the group's sales almost double, from c.670m Euros to around 1.22bn Euros, while consolidated income rose more than 60% to 80m Euros. His other achievements ainclude optimising the firm's tax structure, reducing its debts and forging new links with investors, as well as the financial side of the integration of NOP.

Dr. Arno Mahlert, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of GfK SE, said the board wished to thank von Ahlefeld 'particularly for his services in advancing the internationalization and expansion of our company'.

Web site: www.gfk.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.