Dr Karl Gschwend to retire

HOCHDORF Group Press Release: Change in Senior Management

Hochdorf, 31 January 2018 – A member of the senior management team for many years Dr Karl W. Gschwend, Managing Director Strategic Projects, is to leave the HOCHDORF Group on reaching retirement age at the end of January 2018.

Dr Karl W. Gschwend took over as head of the HOCHDORF Group’s only plant at the time, in Hochdorf, in 1998. Following the purchase of a further production plant in Sulgen, he took over interim management of the Schweiz. Milchgesellschaft AG company in Sulgen. In the period from 2006 to 2014, as managing director of HOCHDORF Nutritec Ltd, he was responsible for both production plants, in Hochdorf and Sulgen. Between 1999 and 2015, Karl Gschwend took on responsibility for quality across the group. In the same period, he was also the employers’ representative for the HOCHDORF Group pension fund on the foundation board, taking on the role of president from 2013 to 2015. As the company representative for scientific research, he coordinated the collaboration between HOCHDORF and national and international colleges and universities over this entire period. As Managing Director Strategic Projects, he has concentrated on the strategically important investment projects of the HOCHDORF Group since 2015.

Shaping important future projects
Responsible for both HOCHDORF production plants, Dr Karl Gschwend has led ground-breaking investment projects of recent years. These included the construction of two production and packaging lines for infant formula in Sulgen. “Through his work, Karl Gschwend has made a major contribution to the success of the HOCHDORF infant formula business,” says Dr Thomas Eisenring, CEO of the HOCHDORF Group.

The investment projects to increase capacity for infant formula will soon be completed and handed over to production. The duties related to the post of Managing Directors Strategic Projects will be organised differently within the group in the future. This reduces the number of management team members to seven.

The Board of Directors and the senior management team would like to thank Dr Karl W. Gschwend for his many years of valuable service and wish him a future filled with good health and new challenges.

Contact: Dr Christoph Hug, Head of Corporate Communications HOCHDORF Group, Tel: +41 (0)41 914 65 62 / +41 (0)79 273 19 23, christoph.hug@hochdorf.com

The HOCHDROF Group, based in Hochdorf, achieved a consolidated gross sales revenue of CHF 551.5 million in 2016. It is one of the leading foodstuff companies in Switzerland, employing 630 staff as of 31.12.2016. Made from natural ingredients such as milk, wheat germ and oil seeds, HOCHDORF products have been contributing to our health and wellbeing since 1895 – from babies to senior citizens. Its customers include the food industry and the wholesale and retail sectors. Its products are sold in over 90 countries. The shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ISIN CH0024666528).