Schoeller Textil AG, the Swiss textile and technology company, announces a change in leadership as Joachim Kath takes over as CEO.
Following a 10-year career at the global textile solutions brand known for its innovative technical fabrics and smart textile finishing technologies for more than 150 years, CEO Siegfried Winkelbeiner is retiring. Kath, who comes from the chemical industry, has been working closely with Winkelbeiner as COO at Schoeller for the past year and a half.
The retiring Winkelbeiner (right) sums up his Schoeller era in one sentence: “Throughout the years, we have compared Schoeller to a ship under sail and have had to weather many a stormy challenge.” The team pulled together and has been able to strengthen the company’s reputation as an innovation leader. On more than one occasion, exciting collaborative projects with existing and new customers opened up untapped business fields and markets.
Under Winkelbeiner’s management, Schoeller has weathered the enormous appreciation of the Swiss franc and the current pandemic. His primary focus has always been to create a working environment in which staff and management can exercise their talents and skills for the benefit of the Schoeller Group.
The transition comes after long-term planning. Since February 2020, and in close partnership with Winkelbeiner, Kath (left) has been preparing. Kath originally comes from Flensburg (DE) and, following his studies of chemical engineering in Karlsruhe, shaped his professional career in the chemical industry with Ciba (-Geigy) / BASF in Basel (CH). His more than 30-year career has incorporated engineering, production and marketing & sales in diverse management functions in a range of business segments.
Kath spent 12 years of his career dedicated to textile finishing, with a period of intensive travel in Asia and a three-year stay in the United States.
