Werner Schweizer is succeeded by Dr Peter Pfeilschifter

HOCHDORF Group Press Release: Changes in Senior Management 

Hochdorf, 29 March 2018 – From the beginning of April, the following changes will come into effect in the HOCHDORF Group’s senior management team: Managing Director for Dairy Ingredients, Werner Schweizer, who has been a member of the senior management team for many years, is succeeded by Dr Peter Pfeilschifter, Managing Director of Uckermärker Milch GmbH. Fons Togtema is also resigning from his role as member of the senior management team at the beginning of April. In the future, he will take on special responsibility for implementing the overall Group’s strategy, reporting directly to the CEO, but no longer as a member of the senior management team. 

Werner Schweizer took over the marketing management for industry in 1998 and was also business unit manager for milk. He has served as Managing Director for the Dairy Ingredients Division since 2006. The milk industry has seen huge changes in the 20 years he has spent at HOCHDORF. Werner Schweizer has a profound knowledge of the Swiss milk industry and will take on new responsibilities in this area for the HOCHDORF Group. However, his new role will no longer involve senior management responsibility.

The baton passes to Dr Peter Pfeilschifter
Dr Peter Pfeilschifter (52) will take on the management of the Dairy Ingredients Division as of 1 April 2018. The German national, has been in charge of the Uckermärker Milch GmbH milk plant in Prenzlau for around one year. He previously served in several management positions, including roles at Glanbia Nutritionals, at Sachsenmilch and at Gelita AG. He completed his studies in economics and business organisation, followed by a doctorate, at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich.

“Peter Pfeilschifter provides us with an excellent internal succession in the traditional HOCHDORF milk business. He has achieved significant successes in a year at the milk plant in Prenzlau. We are looking forward to working with him,” says Dr Thomas Eisenring, CEO of the HOCHDORF Group.

Fons Togtema resigns from senior management role
Fons Togtema took on the role of Chief Sales Officer at the HOCHDORF Group at the start of 2017. He is now joining a specialist team, which has been formed to sharpen the focus on sales in the Baby Care area and sits outside the Group’s hierarchy. Dutch-born Fons Togtema will also deal with the operational implementation of the entire Group strategy and will no longer hold senior management responsibility in his new role. This reduces the number of management team members to six people.

The Board of Directors and the senior management team would like to take this opportunity to thank Werner Schweizer and Fons Togtema for the valuable contributions they have made as senior managers over many years and for their readiness and openness to taking on important new challenges within the HOCHDORF Group. The Board of Directors wishes Dr Peter Pfeilschifter every success in the challenges that lie ahead in his role as Managing Director of the Dairy Ingredients Division.

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

About the HOCHDORF Group:
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).