The shareholders and advisory board of Huf Hülsbeck & Fürst GmbH & Co KG have complied with the request of Chief Executive Officer Thomas Tomakidi (58) to leave the company at his own wish. Tom Graf (63), since January Chief Financial Officer and responsible for the transformation program of Huf, was appointed as his successor effective October 7th, 2019.
Florian Gräf (36), member of the founding family Fürst, becomes a new member of the Management Board. As Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), he is responsible for Strategy, Innovation, Advanced Engineering, Communications and the affiliate companies of Huf. Michael Supe (55), Chief Operating Officer, will lead the worldwide production network as well as the newly created Division Automotive with the business units Exterior, Locking and Mechatronic Solutions.
"We respect Thomas Tomakidi's decision to pursue new professional challenges. In more than 18 years with Huf, he has provided significant impetus for the worldwide expansion of our company and driven the further development of our portfolio in the direction of mechatronic products. We thank him for his extraordinary achievements and wish him all the best for the future," Ulrich Hülsbeck, Chairman of Huf's Advisory Board, said.
Hülsbeck went on to say that Huf must now also strategically realign itself. "The transformation team has made great progress in recent months in positioning our company for the future in a market undergoing profound change. With the gradual optimization of its global production and development network, streamlined processes and operations, Huf will become more efficient, more cost-effective and thus sustainably more competitive", Hülsbeck said. Huf will use the traditionally high innovation potential to further expand its leading position as a specialist for intelligent locking and access systems. This requires more flexible organisational structures throughout the company, including an adapted division of tasks among the Huf Group Management.
