4. Group Executive Board

4.1/4.2 Members of the Group Executive Board

At the end of 2022, the Group Executive Board was composed of seven members.

With effect from 1 October 2022, the Board of Directors of Geberit AG appointed Andreas Lange as Head of the new Group Executive Area Products and as a member of the Group Executive Board. The new Group Executive Area was created following the split of the Group Executive Area Products & Operations led by Martin Ziegler. With effect from 1 October 2022, Martin Ziegler is now Head of Group Executive Area Operations.

Christian Buhl (1973)

• Chairman of the Group Executive Board (CEO) since 2015
• Member of the Group Executive Board since 2015
• With Geberit since 2009
• Swiss citizen
• No external Board of Directors’ mandates

Christian Buhl studied physics (Dipl. Phys. ETH) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich (CH) before undertaking his doctorate (Dr. oec. HSG) in financial market research at the University of St. Gallen (CH). From 2000 to 2003, he worked in research and as a teaching assistant at the University of St. Gallen and at the University of Basel (CH). From 2004 to 2008, Christian Buhl worked at McKinsey & Company, Zurich (CH), where he undertook projects for various Swiss and international industrial companies. He joined Geberit in 2009 as Head Strategic Planning, before taking over responsibility for the Geberit AquaClean shower toilet business in 2011. From 2012 to 2014, Christian Buhl was responsible for the German sales company at Geberit. He has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Geberit Group since 2015; see also Management structure.

Tobias Knechtle (1972)

• Head of Group Executive Area Finance (CFO)
• Member of the Group Executive Board since January 2022
• With Geberit since November 2021
• Swiss citizen
• Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee V-Zug, Zug (CH)

Tobias Knechtle completed his Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Bern (CH) in 1995. He started his career in the Internal Audit department at Nestlé, first as assistant, then as team leader. He then worked at the Boston Consulting Group in Zurich (CH) and São Paulo (BR), heading up projects focusing on business development and operational excellence in industrial and consumer goods companies. From 2005 to 2009, he was Managing Director of the German office of the private equity company Cinven in Frankfurt (DE). From 2009 to 2014, he held leading positions in the finance department at the Kudelski Group, a listed company based in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne (CH). From 2014, he was CFO and member of the Group Executive Board at the listed Valora Group in Muttenz (CH), and took on a wide range of responsibilities in addition to those of a classic CFO. The Board of Directors of Geberit AG has appointed Tobias Knechtle as Head of Group Executive Area Finance (CFO) and as a member of the Group Executive Board with effect from 1 January 2022; see also Management structure.

Martin Baumüller (1977)

• Head of Group Executive Area Marketing & Brands
• Member of the Group Executive Board since 2016
• With Geberit since 2011
• Swiss citizen
• No external Board of Directors’ mandates

Martin Baumüller completed his Master’s degree in International Management at the University of St. Gallen (CH) and an MBA at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (SG) in 2001. In 2005, he received his doctorate from the University of Bern (CH) with his dissertation on “Managing Cultural Diversity”. He began his career as a freelance consultant for strategy and market expansion projects from 2001 to 2003. From 2005 to 2010 he worked for McKinsey & Company in Zurich (CH), first on various projects for pharmaceutical, chemical and transportation clients and later as Engagement Manager responsible for global projects in various industries and as a member of the Strategy & Corporate Finance team. He joined Geberit as Head Strategic Planning in 2011. From 2012 to 2016, he was responsible as Head of Geberit AquaClean for the management and development of the entire shower toilet business of the Geberit Group. He has been Head of Group Executive Area Marketing & Brands since 2016; see also Management structure.

Andreas Lange (1975)

• Head of Group Executive Area Products
• Member of the Group Executive Board since October 2022
• With Geberit since 2012
• Swiss and German citizen
• No external Board of Directors’ mandates

Andreas Lange graduated from ETH Zurich (CH) in 2002 with a degree in physics and subsequently completed the MBA programme at the Collège des Ingénieures in Paris (FR). From 2003 to 2010, he worked for McKinsey & Company in Zurich (CH) and Singapore (SG) – most recently in the role of project manager – for various international companies mainly in the chemical industry. From 2010 to 2012, he led the Corporate Planning & Development team at Rieter AG in Winterthur (CH). In 2012, he joined Geberit as Head of Strategic Planning and, in this role, played a key role in the acquisition and subsequent integration of the Sanitec ceramics business acquired in 2015. From 2018 to 2022, he was responsible for Product Quality at the Geberit Group. The Board of Directors of Geberit AG has appointed Andreas Lange as Head of Group Executive Area Products and as a member of the Group Executive Board with effect from 1 October 2022; see also Management structure.

Clemens Rapp (1981)

• Head of Group Executive Area Sales Europe
• Member of the Group Executive Board since 2020
• With Geberit since 2009
• Austrian citizen
• No external Board of Directors’ mandates

Clemens Rapp completed his Master’s degree in International Business at the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck (AT) in 2005. He started his career in 2006 at Hilti, first as sales consultant, then as Product Manager Installation Systems and afterwards as Key Account Business Development Manager for Central and Eastern Europe. In 2009, he joined Geberit as Head of Technical Sales at its Austrian sales company, before taking over as Managing Director here in 2012. From January 2015 to March 2020, he was Managing Director of the German sales company – the most important sales unit within the Geberit Group. Since 2020, Clemens Rapp has been Head of Group Executive Area Sales Europe; see also Management structure.

Ronald van Triest (1969)

• Head of Group Executive Area Sales International
• Member of the Group Executive Board since 2015
• With Geberit since 2015
• Dutch citizen
• No external Board of Directors’ mandates

Ronald van Triest completed his Master’s degree in Management and Organisation at the University of Groningen (NL) in 1996. He started his career at Royal Philips, where he held various roles until 2006. These were initially in the areas of marketing and sales, before a second phase where he took on wide-ranging responsibilities in the areas of product management, M&A and executive management. He operated predominantly from Singapore (SG) and Hong Kong (CN). From 2007 to 2009, he was General Manager Sales at China Electronics Corporation in Shenzhen (CN), where he was responsible for sales, marketing, service and logistics and managed staff in China, Singapore, Russia and Turkey. From 2010 to 2015, he worked for Ellipz Lighting in Singapore. As CEO and Managing Director, he was responsible for setting up and developing the Asian business. Among other things, he established a joint venture in Beijing, set up the local production, R&D and sales, and created sales channels in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as a joint venture in India. Since 2015, Ronald van Triest has been Head of Group Executive Area Sales International of the Geberit Group; see also Management structure.

Martin Ziegler (1969)

• Head of Group Executive Area Operations
• Member of the Group Executive Board since 2018
• With Geberit since 1995
• Swiss citizen
• Member of the Board of Directors Piancabo SA, Agarone (CH)

Martin Ziegler completed his Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering at ETH Zurich (CH) in 1994. Following his time as an assistant at ETH, he joined the Geberit Group in 1995. He initially worked for Geberit as a project manager in a German production plant before later becoming Head of Quality Management for the Group and working as Managing Director of the piping production plant in Givisiez (CH). From 2003, he headed up the Piping Systems product area at Group level for ten years – with the exception of one year where he worked in Shanghai (CN) as Head of Operations and Product Manager for the Asia/Pacific region. From 2012 to the end of 2017, he was responsible for the Group’s EFA (Extrusion, Forming, Assembly) production plants. From 2018 to March 2020, he was Head of Group Executive Area Operations. From April 2020 to September 2022, he was Head of the Group Executive Area Products & Operations, which was created from the two merged Group Executive Areas Operations and Product Management & Innovation. Since October 2022, he is again Head of Group Executive Area Operations; see also Management structure.

For former members of the Group Executive Board who have left the Board during the past five years, please refer to the following links:

• Roland Iff (Annual Report 2021, Business Report, Corporate Governance, 4. Group Executive Board), left the board on 31 December 2021
• Egon Renford-Sasse (Annual Report 2019, Business Report, Corporate Governance, 4. Group Executive Board), left the board on 31 March 2020
• Karl Spachmann (Annual Report 2019, Business Report, Corporate Governance, 4. Group Executive Board), left the board on 31 March 2020

4.3 Regulations in the Articles of Incorporation concerning the number of permissible activities in accordance with Art. 12 Para. 1 Clause 1 OaEC

Members of the Group Executive Board may hold up to two mandates in profit-oriented legal entities and up to four mandates in non-profit-oriented legal entities or charitable legal entities outside the Geberit Group.

Mandates of a member of the Group Executive Board in legal entities which are controlled by the company, or which control the company, as well as mandates held by such member in their capacity as a member of the Group Executive Board of the company, or held by order and on behalf of the company or legal entities controlled by it, shall not count as mandates in legal entities outside the Geberit Group.

Mandates of a member of the Group Executive Board of the company in legal entities outside the Geberit Group which are under common control, as well as mandates held by such member in their capacity as a member of the supreme governing body or of the group management of a legal entity outside the Geberit Group or held by order and on behalf of such legal entity or legal entities controlled by it, shall be deemed one mandate outside the Geberit Group.

The acceptance of mandates from members of the Group Executive Board in legal entities outside the Geberit Group must be approved in advance by the Board of Directors or, if delegated to it, the Nomination and Compensation Committee.

Mandates in the sense of Art. 24 of the Articles of Incorporation (www.geberit.com/downloadcenter-en) of Geberit AG are mandates in supreme governing bodies or in an advisory board of legal entities that are required to be recorded in the Commercial Register or in a corresponding foreign register.

The current Articles of Incorporation can be viewed online at www.geberit.com/downloadcenter-en.

4.4 Management contracts

The Group has not entered into any management contracts with companies (or natural persons) outside the Geberit Group.