Lufthansa Group chief financial officer Remco Steenbergen is to leave the European airline group as part of series of executive changes which also include the appointment for former Airbus and Rolls-Royce executive Grazia Vittadini as its new technology chief.
Steenbergen, who joined the airline group as chief financial officer at the start of 2021, will depart Lufthansa’s executive board by mutual agreement in May. Michael Niggemann, who has board responsibility for human resources, will serve as interim chief financial officer until a permament replacement is appointed.
The new chief financial officer will join a restructured and new-look executive board, which will be cut from six to five members.
Steenbergen is one of four executives stepping down from the executive board as part of the revamp. This also includes former Swiss International Air Lines chief executive, Harry Hohmeister, who holds responsibility for passenger airlines, as well as Christina Foerster and Detlef Kayser.
”Our executive board has done outstanding work in guiding the Lufthansa Group through the extremely challenging phase of the pandemic,” says Lufthansa supervisory board chair Karl-Ludwig Kley. “It has successfully mastered the demanding subsequent ramp-up of our operations; and the Lufthansa Group stands once again today on a sound business foundation.
”The supervisory board would like to express its particular gratitude to those executive board members who will now be leaving us, for all their work, their commitment and their strong loyalty to the Lufthansa Group.”
Vittadini was formerly chief technology officer at Airbus, before taking up the same role for UK engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce at the start of 2022. She will begin her new role as Lufthansa Group chief technology officer in July, where she will be responsible for Technik and IT with an added responsibility for sustainability.
Swiss chief executive Dieter Vranckx is also joining the group’s executive board with responsibility for global markets and commercial steering hubs.
“The challenges now facing our industry and our group may be different from those of past years, but they are no less substantial,” says Kley. “We aim to meet and master them with renewed energy and with a new executive board team that blends even more international experience and an even broader range of outlooks and perspectives. ”
