Siemens Names Thomas as New CFO

The game of musical chairs in the executive suite at Siemens continues with the announcement that the new CEO, Joe Kaeser, has appointed Ralf Thomas, formerly finance chief of the industry division, to the CFO post. At the same time, SAP’s co-CEO, Jim Hagemann Snabe, has been appointed to the board after the resignation of deputy chairman Josef Ackermann. Siemens’ head of human resources, Brigitte Ederer, will also leave the management board at the end of September, before the official end of her term, with Chief Technology Officer Klaus Helmrich assuming her responsibilities in addition to his current role.

This shake-up follows the ouster of former CEO Peter Loescher at the end of July. The Siemens board voted him out after the fifth profit forecast cut in six years, failure to meet sales goals, profit margins lagging behind those of Siemens’ competitors and several expensive acquisitions that have failed to perform as expected.

Ackermann is said to have resigned because he disapproved of the firing of Loescher and loss of support of the other board members.

For more details, see this report from Bloomberg and this one from Reuters.

For more on Loescher’s ouster, see this report from Bloomburg