Miele announces a medium-term change to its Board of Directors: Dr Heiner Olbrich, Managing Director for Sales and Marketing at Miele & Cie. KG, is to leave the company with effect from December 31, 2014 for personal reasons. At the same time, an agreement has been reached with Dr Olbrich which ensures that he will continue to assume his full duties as Managing Director until the end of next year in order to consolidate the highly successful course already embarked on together with the other members of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, this ensures that the company will be able to arrange the best possible replacement without being under any time pressure.

Dr Heiner Olbrich joined the Board of Directors of the Gütersloh-based domestic appliance company in 2011 to succeed Dr Reto Bazzi after he went into retirement. Under his leadership, Miele has made considerable progress with its worldwide marketing strategy and has gained market shares in many important countries. Dr Heiner Olbrich has based this most recent decision on the fact that he no longer wishes to pursue a career which involves such intensive travel as is inevitably the case in his current position. Dr Heiner Olbrich became a father for the third time recently. His family continues to reside in Munich.

The remaining board directors and the proprietor families both respect and regret this decision and thank Dr Heiner Olbrich for his commitment to stay in office until such time as a successor has been found and properly installed. Comprehensive and appropriate appreciation of the work and deserts of Dr Heiner Olbrich and a final show of gratitude on the part of the family proprietors and the Board of Directors has been reserved for a later date.

Company profile: Miele is the world leader in the field of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floorcare products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washer-extractors and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany and one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2012/13 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.15 bn, with sales outside Germany accounting for 70%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. The Miele company, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, employs a workforce of around 17,250 with two-thirds in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.
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