Christoph Franz World Economic Forum 2013

Christoph Franz (born 2 May 1960 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

) is a German engineer and manager who served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

of Lufthansa from 2011 until 2014.

Early life and education

Franz studied industrial engineering at the

Technical University of Darmstadt Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

and completed his studies with a Ph.D. in economic sciences at the same university. He also studied at the

École centrale de Lyon The École centrale de Lyon (ECL) is a research university in greater Lyon, France. Founded in 1857 by François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour in response to the increasing industrialization of France, it is one of the oldest graduate schools in Fr ...

and conducted post-doctorate research at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Franz joined Lufthansa in 1990. During that time, he was involved in Lufthansa's turnround following the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, when he served in the office of Jürgen Weber, the then chief executive. In 1994 Franz moved to German railway operator Deutsche Bahn. From 2004 until 2009 he was CEO of

Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG, colloquially known as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland, operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its sole hub and Geneva ...

. From 1 January 2011 until 30 April 2014 he served as CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG as successor of Wolfgang Mayrhuber. During his time in office, he sought to fight back against the budget airlines by eliminating duplication between Lufthansa's point-to-point short-haul services and

Germanwings Germanwings GmbH was a German low-cost airline wholly owned by Lufthansa which operated under the Eurowings brand. It was based in Cologne with hubs at Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, Munich Airp ...

. Also under his leadership, Lufthansa completed the sale of its UK subsidiary British Midland International to

International Airlines Group International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its global headq ...

. In 2011, Franz accompanied Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

on an official trip to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. In 2013, Franz stepped down as chief executive of Lufthansa midway through the airline's restructuring programme to become chairman of the Swiss pharmaceutical company

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

the following year. He had been a member of Roche's board since 2011.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Deutsche Flugsicherung Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) is the company in charge of air traffic control for Germany. It is a company organized under private law and 100% owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. Since January 1993, DFS has been controlling air traffic in Ge ...

(DFS), Member of the Advisory Board * Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Member of the Board of Directors (since 2017) *

Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2014) * Stadler Rail, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2011) *

, Member of the Board of Directors (2009-2016) *

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (2008-2011)

Non-profit organizations

* Avenir Suisse, Member of the Board of Trustees * Baden-Badener Unternehmer-Gespräche (BBUG), Member of the Board *

European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and European ...

(ERT), Member *

Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it curren ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees *

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

, Swiss Institute of International Studies (SIAF), Member of the Board of Trustees *

, Department of Economics, Member of the Advisory Board *

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, Member of the advisory board (since 2018)Advisory Board

. *

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

(ICRC), Member of the Assembly (since 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franz, Christoph 1960 births Living people Businesspeople from Frankfurt German airline chief executives Lufthansa people Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni