Peter Löscher (born 17 September 1957 in

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the p ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) is an Austrian manager who was the CEO of Siemens from 2007 until 2013. As of 2017, Löscher remains as the only CEO to be hired from outside the conglomerate in the 170-year history of Siemens. Before joining Siemens, he worked as president for Global Human Health at global pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.

Early life and education

Löscher graduated from Gymnasium

in 1978 and got a master's degree at the

Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration The Vienna University of Economics and Business (german: Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, WU) is a public research university in Vienna, Austria, the largest university focusing on business, management and economics in Europe. It has been ranked as ...

. Later he attended but did not obtain a degree from an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

program at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university and ...

, and attended the six-week Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School. In 2007 he received the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of Doctor of Engineering from Michigan State University.

Career

Peter Loscher, President and CEO, Siemens and Maria Bartiromo

From 1988 until 2000 he worked for the German pharmaceutical company Hoechst in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Japan,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. After Hoechst merged with Rhone-Poulenc he stayed at

Aventis Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Sy ...

until 2002. He then joined Amersham, which was taken over by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

. In 2006 he became a member of the executive board of the US pharmaceutical company Merck. In 2007 Löscher became the first CEO of

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

to be appointed from outside the company. He was appointed on 20 May 2007 as the successor of

Klaus Kleinfeld Klaus-Christian Kleinfeld (born 6 November 1957 in Bremen, Germany) is the former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Arconic. Kleinfeld is former chairman and CEO of Alcoa Inc., and former president and CEO of Siemens AG. Kleinfeld ste ...

, and was selected to take on the new position on 1 July 2007. Under Löscher, Siemens spun off its Osram lighting unit and sold its half of a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

that supplied equipment for mobile telecommunication networks. In 2012, he earned 8.7 million euros. In late 2012, he initiated efforts to save 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion) over the following two years. In his capacity as CEO, he 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 various state visits, including to China in 2012. Following a series of missteps under his leadership, including a late delivery of high-speed

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

trains for German national railroad Deutsche Bahn and delays in completing offshore wind turbine projects, he was replaced by Joe Kaeser (Josef Käser) as CEO and left Siemens in July 2013, four years before the end of his contract. Under the terms of his pay-off of 17 million euros from Siemens, Löscher was obliged not to work for a "significant competitor" of the company until September 2015. In 2014, he was hired by Russian billionaire

Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, uk, Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian–Israeli-Cyprus oligarch, billion ...

to serve as chief executive of Renova Management (RMAG), which oversees his international industrial holdings, including stakes in Sulzer and in Oerlikon. He left Renova in 2016, amid disagreements with Vekselberg. In Munich, Löscher shares an office with

Ann-Kristin Achleitner Ann-Kristin Achleitner ( Koberg) is a German economist, currently a professor at Technical University of Munich. Career Before taking on her current position, Achleitner held an Endowed Chair for Banking and Finance at EBS University of Busin ...

Paul Achleitner Paul M. Achleitner (born 28 September 1956, in Linz) is an Austrian businessman who served as chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank from 2012 to 2022. Education Achleitner studied Business Administration, Economics, Law and Social Sc ...

Michael Diekmann Michael Diekmann (born December 23, 1954) is a German manager who served as the CEO of Allianz in between 2003 and 2015. Early life and education Diekmann knew early that the family construction business would go to his twin brother, who was mo ...

and Joachim Faber.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Salesforce Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...

, Member of the Advisory Board on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (since 2020) *

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) *

Telefónica Germany Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (; also called Telefónica Deutschland ) is a provider of broadband, landline and mobile telecommunications in Germany. The company trades as O2 (typeset as O2). The company was renamed from Telefónica O ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) * Doha Venture Capital, Member of the Board of Directors *

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2016) * Sulzer, Chairman of the Board of Directors (since 2014) * TBG AG, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2013) *

OMV OMV (formerly abbreviation for Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung Aktiengesellschaft ('' en, Austrian Mineral Oil Administration Stock Company'')) is an Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company which is headquart ...

, Chair of the Supervisory Board (2016-2019) *

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Member of the European Advisory Board (2011), Member of the Supervisory Board (2012-2017) *

Munich Re Munich Re Group or Munich Reinsurance Company (german: Münchener Rück; Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft) is a German multinational insurance company based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the world's leading reinsurers. ERGO, a Muni ...

, Member of the Supevisory Board (2009-2014)

Non-profit organizations

Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and comput ...

, Member of the International Advisory Council * Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA), Chairman (2010-2014) * Siemens Stiftung, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2008-2014)

Personal life

Löscher speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. He and his Spanish-born wife have three children. According to an interview in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Löscher was the captain of the

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

team at high school and college.