Weinheim, July 01, 2014. At the end of Freudenberg & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft's General Meeting, Dr. Wolfram Freudenberg retired from the Chair of the Board of Partners, having reached the retirement age of 73 on June 24. The body elected Martin Wentzler (61) as its new Chairman. The Chair of Freudenberg & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft's Board of Partners is also the Chair of the Supervisory Board of Freudenberg SE.
Wolfram Freudenberg has been a Member of the Board of Partners since 1975 and its Chairman since 2005. He took a rest from office between 1988 and 1991. Throughout a long and remarkable tenure, Wolfram Freudenberg made a significant contribution, at many stages, to the continued development of the Freudenberg Group. In the past nine years, as Chairman of the Board of Partners, the strategic development of the company took precedence and in particular the corporate legal reorganization and establishment of Freudenberg SE. He supported the systematic, continued realignment of the portfolio, as well as the organizational and human resources reorientation in preparation for the next decade.
His successor, Martin Wentzler, is also committed to continuity. Just as Wolfram Freudenberg, he is also a great-great-grandson of Carl Johann Freudenberg, the founder of the company. Martin Wentzler grew up in Weinheim and then studied law in Würzburg and Mainz. Following that, he gained considerable practical experience in law courts and government agencies, as well as in industrial companies in the USA and Brazil. After two years working as a lawyer in Munich, he was employed between 1985 and 1986 in the Shea & Gould attorney's office in Los Angeles. Since 1986 he has worked as a self-employed lawyer in Munich, focusing on the support of mid-sized family-owned companies. Martin Wentzler participates in various advisory committees and supervisory boards. In 1993 he was elected to the Freudenberg & Kommanditgesellschaft Board of Partners. Since then he has been a member of the human resources and audit committees and since the beginning of 2013 Deputy Chairman of the Board of Partners / Supervisory Board. In addition, he represents Partners' interests as CEO of Treuhand Weinheim. Martin Wentzler is married and has three daughters.