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Deputy Chairman Steps Up at GfK
GfK has appointed Dr. Arno Mahlert to replace Hajo Riesenbeck as Chairman. Stefan Pfander replaces him as Deputy Chairman.
Riesenbeck, the most senior GfK advocate of the failed TNS merger plan, stepped down both as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and President of GfK-Nürnberg e.V. on 15th September. The firm cited 'differing views on the growth course of the GfK Group' as the key reason.
Dr. Mahlert, elected by a unanimous vote at a meeting of the Supervisory Board on Thursday, was previously the Deputy Chairman and was first appointed to the Board in 2004. He is the CEO of Maxingvest ag, Hamburg, owner of coffee firm Tchibo GmbH and cosmetics company Beiersdorf AG; and Supervisory Board Chairman of Luxemburg-registered publisher Springer Science+Business Media S.A. Pfander is also on the Boards of Tchibo and Beiersdorf.
The Board took the opportunity to thank the firm's Management Board and CEO Professor Dr. Klaus L. Wübbenhorst, 'for their successful work and the exceedingly positive development of the GfK Group, particularly in light of the past few eventful months, which have been shaped by the merger activities between GfK and TNS.' It also singled out for praise the group's strategic plan, the '5 Star Initiative'.
Riesenbeck's successor at GfK-Verein has yet to be named.
GfK, which had sales of EUR 1,162.1m in the financial year 2007, is online at www.gfk.com .
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