Thomas Limberger

Thomas Peter Limberger (22 July 1967 in Bad Homburg, Germany) is a German industrial and restructuring expert and manager. Since 16 August 2007 he has been Chief Executive of Von Roll Holding AG.

Education
Thomas Limberger studied economics in France and in the United States. In 1994 concluded his studies with “Finance and Strategic Management” with a Master of Business Administration (Institut Superieur de Gestion, Harvard Business School).

Profession and career

 * 1995–2001: Fresenius AG and Fresenius Medical AG, Bad Homburg, Germany: different management functions
 * 2001–2006: General Electric Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Munich, Germany: CEO und National Executive
 * 2006–2007: OC Oerlikon AG, Pfäffikon SZ, Switzerland: CEO und Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors
 * 2007-2010: Von Roll Holding AG, Wädenswil, Switzerland: Chairman and CEO

After his MBA Limberger began his professional career in 1996 at Fresenius AG. Following the takeover of National Medical Care in the USA to create Fresenius Medical Care AG, Limberger held various management roles until 2001.

In January 2001 he left Fresenius Medical Care AG and took a position on the management board of General Electric Germany. He was responsible for the Industrial business division. In 2002 he became CEO of General Electric Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In this role he was responsible for all General Electric’s activities in central Europe. It was under his management that the region’s revenues doubled to $6.5 billion dollars. He was also at the helm during the integration of Allbank (where he was supervisory board member until 2005) and the building of a global GE research facility on the TU campus in Munich.

His engagement and economic position brought him into contact with the political scene in Berlin. Johannes Rau mentioned Limberger in as speech to the German Foundation as an example of a businessman who recognizes the significance of location and so invests successfully. In other discussions with the political leadership – including Gerhard Schroder, Angela Merkel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier – he is always stating his opinion on the European location.

In May 2004, Limberger was elected by a general meeting to the board of OC Oerlikon AG. One year later, after a change in key shareholders, he became CEO and Vice President of the board. Limberger took on this position despite the stressful insolvency and led a successful restructuring of the firm. As part of his first initiative there was a centralisation of management (seven different kinds of interface technology for semi-conductors) as well as stringent cost management. He led the company out of the red (a loss of 340 million Swiss francs in 2004) and had by 2006 already achieved a record profit of 320 million Swiss francs. Due to these efforts and the surge in Oerlikon shares, the company won the Dow Jones EUROSTOXX 500 prize for the best stock in Europe. But over a difference of opinion with vice president Georg Stumpf regarding the strategic direction, Limberger left the company in May 2007. The business and tabloid press styled Limberger as part of a new generation of managers. Media reports were both positive and negative. Limberger was especially criticised in Switzerland when he was listed as one of the top five earners. German newspaper Handelsblatt described Limberger and his management style as “Jack Welch in the Alps”. The Financial Times Deutschland followed up with a portrait entitled “Zack, Zack” and shortly afterwards Die Zeit referred to him as a successful but somewhat different “Whirlwind”.

From 2007 until end of 2010, Thomas Limberger was at Von Roll. Major shareholder August von Finck Junior, who Limberger had known personally for about eight years, was able to win Limberger for this position. With a company history of 204 years, Von Roll is a world leader in insulation products and systems for the electrical machinery industry as well as for composite materials and parts for various industrial applications. In addition, Von Roll also provides special thermal and fire resistant insulation products to the cable, electronics and other industries. Von Roll adds value to engineering, from the production of goods to their utilization. Limberger’s first successful action occurred in the first five weeks, when a general meeting decided to increase capital in a very short timeframe. A new strategic direction for Von Roll was afoot.

Literature
Addition in: Made in Germany 21 Innovations for a reasonable future by Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Matthias Machnig (Taschenbuch – April 2004)